Max Lucado Daily: Whispered Wonderings
She will have a son, and they will name him Immanuel, which means "God is with us.”
Matthew 1:23 (NCV)
The white space between Bible verses is fertile soil for questions. One can hardly read Scripture without whispering, "I wonder..."
"I wonder if Eve ever ate any more fruit."
"I wonder if Noah slept well during storms."...
But in our wonderings, there is one question we never need to ask. Does God care? Do we matter to God? Does he still love his children?
Through the small face of the stable-born baby, he says yes.
Yes, your sins are forgiven.
Yes, your name is written in heaven....
And yes, God has entered your world.
Matthew 8:1-17
He Carried Our Diseases
1–2 8 Jesus came down the mountain with the cheers of the crowd still ringing in his ears. Then a leper appeared and went to his knees before Jesus, praying, “Master, if you want to, you can heal my body.”
3–4 Jesus reached out and touched him, saying, “I want to. Be clean.” Then and there, all signs of the leprosy were gone. Jesus said, “Don’t talk about this all over town. Just quietly present your healed body to the priest, along with the appropriate expressions of thanks to God. Your cleansed and grateful life, not your words, will bear witness to what I have done.”
5–6 As Jesus entered the village of Capernaum, a Roman captain came up in a panic and said, “Master, my servant is sick. He can’t walk. He’s in terrible pain.”
7 Jesus said, “I’ll come and heal him.”
8–9 “Oh, no,” said the captain. “I don’t want to put you to all that trouble. Just give the order and my servant will be fine. I’m a man who takes orders and gives orders. I tell one soldier, ‘Go,’ and he goes; to another, ‘Come,’ and he comes; to my slave, ‘Do this,’ and he does it.”
10–12 Taken aback, Jesus said, “I’ve yet to come across this kind of simple trust in Israel, the very people who are supposed to know all about God and how he works. This man is the vanguard of many outsiders who will soon be coming from all directions—streaming in from the east, pouring in from the west, sitting down at God’s kingdom banquet alongside Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Then those who grew up ‘in the faith’ but had no faith will find themselves out in the cold, outsiders to grace and wondering what happened.”
13 Then Jesus turned to the captain and said, “Go. What you believed could happen has happened.” At that moment his servant became well.
14–15 By this time they were in front of Peter’s house. On entering, Jesus found Peter’s mother-in-law sick in bed, burning up with fever. He touched her hand and the fever was gone. No sooner was she up on her feet than she was fixing dinner for him.
16–17 That evening a lot of demon-afflicted people were brought to him. He relieved the inwardly tormented. He cured the bodily ill. He fulfilled Isaiah’s well-known sermon:
He took our illnesses,
He carried our diseases.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Sunday, February 23, 2025
by Karen Pimpo
TODAY'S SCRIPTURE
Psalm 1
How well God must like you—
you don’t hang out at Sin Saloon,
you don’t slink along Dead-End Road,
you don’t go to Smart-Mouth College.
2–3 Instead you thrill to God’s Word,
you chew on Scripture day and night.
You’re a tree replanted in Eden,
bearing fresh fruit every month,
Never dropping a leaf,
always in blossom.
4–5 You’re not at all like the wicked,
who are mere wind-blown dust—
Without defense in court,
unfit company for innocent people.
6 God charts the road you take.
The road they take is Skid Row.
Today's Insights
Psalm 1, which introduces the book of Psalms, contrasts the way of the “blessed” with the self-destructive path of “the wicked” (v. 1). The psalm depicts a primary way of seeking God’s path: through continual meditation on God’s revelation in “the law” (v. 2). In this way, someone can experience being rooted in and sustained by God’s wisdom “like a tree planted by streams of water” (v. 3).
God’s ultimate revelation of Himself is Christ, God’s Word (John 1:1). In Ephesians 3, Paul uses similar imagery of being “rooted” (v. 17) to describe the believer’s bond with Christ, praying that God would “strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being” (v. 16). Through being “rooted and established” in Christ’s love (v. 17)—“that surpasses knowledge”—we can be “filled to the measure of all the fullness of God” (v. 19).
Planted by the Stream
That person is like a tree planted by streams of water. Psalm 1:3
Bill is an older retired gentleman who lives alone and recently had to give up driving. He needs help to pick up groceries, prescriptions, and get to church on Sundays. “But you know what,” says Bill, “I love my days at home. I enjoy free worship music online and Bible teaching on the TV all day long.” Bill spends his days surrounded by Scripture, prayer, and praise.
The habits we keep influence where our hearts are planted. Psalm 1 describes the habits of someone who has found favor in God: they delight in His truth, meditate on it often, and therefore do not follow the rebellious pattern of the world (vv. 1-2). Hardship will come to everyone, but a life established in the ways of God “is like a tree planted by streams of water . . . whose leaf does not wither” (v. 3). Depending on our season of life, we might not be able to spend hours a day in Bible study. However, Jesus said He satisfies anyone who is thirsty that comes to Him, and the Holy Spirit fills His followers like a river (John 7:37-39). We can steep our hearts in living water through praise and Scripture, and also through caring for others, talking to God while we work, and asking for forgiveness when we mess up.
Following the wisdom of God plants our hearts in fertile soil. That life gets called righteous, and God watches over it (Psalm 1:6).
Reflect & Pray
What habits keep you planted by the life-giving water of Jesus? How does that change depending on what season of life you’re in?
Dear Jesus, may I come to You when I feel thirsty and dry.
How do we choose between the Lord's path and the world's path? Learn more by reading Two Roads Diverged.
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My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Sunday, February 23, 2025
The Determination to Serve
The Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve. — Matthew 20:28
Paul’s idea of service is the same as our Lord’s. Jesus said, “I am among you as one who serves” (Luke 22:27). Paul echoed him: “For what we preach is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, and ourselves as your servants for Jesus’ sake” (2 Corinthians 4:5).
We have the idea that Jesus’s ministers are called to be different kinds of beings, that they should be higher and holier than other people. Jesus said his ministers should be other people’s doormats: spiritual leaders, not superiors. When Paul wrote, “We commend ourselves in every way: in great endurance; in troubles, hardships and distresses” (6:4), he was describing the lengths he would go to as Christ’s servant. He wanted to spend himself to the last penny; he didn’t care if people stepped all over him.
Paul didn’t draw his motivation for serving from a love for humanity. The well he drew from was his love for Jesus Christ. If we are devoted to the cause of humanity, we will soon be crushed and brokenhearted—we may often meet with more ingratitude from humanity than we might from a dog! But if our motive is to love God, no amount of ingratitude will keep us from serving.
Paul’s experience of how Jesus Christ had dealt with him is the secret of his determination to serve others: “Even though I was once a blasphemer and a persecutor and a violent man, I was shown mercy” (1 Timothy 1:13). Paul realized that others could never treat him as badly as he’d treated Jesus. When we too come to this realization—when we see that Jesus Christ has served us despite our selfishness and cruelty and sin—nothing we meet with from others can shake our determination to serve them in his name.
Numbers 7-8; Mark 4:21-41
WISDOM FROM OSWALD
It is impossible to read too much, but always keep before you why you read. Remember that “the need to receive, recognize, and rely on the Holy Spirit” is before all else.
Approved Unto God, 11 L
