Max Lucado Daily: THE JOY OF RESURRECTION - March 21, 2025
Solomon said, “There is a time to mourn” (Ecclesiastes 3:4). Give yourself some. Face your grief with tears, time, and one more—face your grief with truth. God has the last word on death. And if you listen, he will tell you the truth about your loved ones. They’ve been dismissed from the hospital called Earth. You and I still roam the halls and smell the medicines. They, meanwhile, inhale springtime. You miss them like crazy, but can you deny the truth? They have no pain, doubt, or struggle. They really are happier in heaven.
And you know what? Reunion is only a splinter of an eternal moment away. 1 Thessalonians 4:13 says that there is no need for you “to grieve like the rest of men, who have no hope.” God understands your sorrow. He knows the sorrow of a grave. He buried his Son. But he also knows the joy of resurrection. And by his power, you will too.
Facing Your Giants: God Still Does the Impossible
Job 23
JOB’S DEFENSE
I’m Completely in the Dark
1–7 23 Job replied:
“I’m not letting up—I’m standing my ground.
My complaint is legitimate.
God has no right to treat me like this—
it isn’t fair!
If I knew where on earth to find him,
I’d go straight to him.
I’d lay my case before him face-to-face,
give him all my arguments firsthand.
I’d find out exactly what he’s thinking,
discover what’s going on in his head.
Do you think he’d dismiss me or bully me?
No, he’d take me seriously.
He’d see a straight-living man standing before him;
my Judge would acquit me for good of all charges.
8–9 “I travel East looking for him—I find no one;
then West, but not a trace;
I go North, but he’s hidden his tracks;
then South, but not even a glimpse.
10–12 “But he knows where I am and what I’ve done.
He can cross-examine me all he wants, and I’ll pass the test with honors.
I’ve followed him closely, my feet in his footprints,
not once swerving from his way.
I’ve obeyed every word he’s spoken,
and not just obeyed his advice—I’ve treasured it.
13–17 “But he is singular and sovereign. Who can argue with him?
He does what he wants, when he wants to.
He’ll complete in detail what he’s decided about me,
and whatever else he determines to do.
Is it any wonder that I dread meeting him?
Whenever I think about it, I get scared all over again.
God makes my heart sink!
God Almighty gives me the shudders!
I’m completely in the dark,
I can’t see my hand in front of my face.”
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Friday, March 21, 2025
by Xochitl Dixon
TODAY'S SCRIPTURE
Isaiah 43:1-7
When You’re Between a Rock and a Hard Place
1–4 43 But now, God’s Message,
the God who made you in the first place, Jacob,
the One who got you started, Israel:
“Don’t be afraid, I’ve redeemed you.
I’ve called your name. You’re mine.
When you’re in over your head, I’ll be there with you.
When you’re in rough waters, you will not go down.
When you’re between a rock and a hard place,
it won’t be a dead end—
Because I am God, your personal God,
The Holy of Israel, your Savior.
I paid a huge price for you:
all of Egypt, with rich Cush and Seba thrown in!
That’s how much you mean to me!
That’s how much I love you!
I’d sell off the whole world to get you back,
trade the creation just for you.
5–7 “So don’t be afraid: I’m with you.
I’ll round up all your scattered children,
pull them in from east and west.
I’ll send orders north and south:
‘Send them back.
Return my sons from distant lands,
my daughters from faraway places.
I want them back, every last one who bears my name,
every man, woman, and child
Whom I created for my glory,
yes, personally formed and made each one.’ ”
Today's Insights
More than one hundred years before it occurred, Isaiah prophesied Jerusalem’s destruction in 586 bc and Judah’s seventy-year exile in Babylon (Isaiah 39:6-7; see 2 Chronicles 36:15-21; 2 Kings 20:16-18; Jeremiah 52:4-27). But God wouldn’t abandon His people, even though He’d punish them for their covenantal unfaithfulness. In Isaiah 40-66, the prophet speaks of the deliverance from that exile and Judah’s restoration. Chapters 40-48 focus on the return from the Babylonian captivity and the means by which God would accomplish it. God assured His people of His unfailing love because they’re His chosen people. He’s their God and Savior who has chosen, redeemed, and honored them. They need not fear the Babylonians, the exile, or their future. “You are precious and honored in my sight,” He assured them. “Do not be afraid, for I am with you” (Isaiah 43:4-5).
God’s Own
Do not fear, for I have redeemed you; I have summoned you by name; you are mine. Isaiah 43:1
One day, while serving as my mom’s live-in caregiver, we visited an art exhibit. We were emotionally and physically drained. I gazed at two wooden row boats filled with colorful blown-glass shapes inspired by Japanese fishing lures and flower arrangements. The display Ikebana and Float Boats sat in front of a black wall on a reflective surface. Speckled, spotted, and striped glass orbs, like oversized gumballs, were piled into the smaller boat. From the hull of the second boat, long, twisted, and curved glass sculptures rose like vibrant flames. The artist had shaped each piece of molten glass through the refining fires of the glassblowing process.
Tears streaked my cheeks as I imagined God’s caring hand holding me and my mom—His beloved children—through our hardest days. As God shapes the character of His people through refining fires in life, He affirms that our hope comes from being known and knowing we belong to Him (Isaiah 43:1). Though we can’t escape hardship, God promises to protect us and be present (v. 2). His identity and His love for us make His promises secure (vv. 3-4).
When life’s circumstances heat up, we may feel fragile. We may even be fragile. But God holds us firmly in love, no matter how blazing hot the furnace gets. We are known. We are loved. We are His!
Reflect & Pray
Why does knowing you belong to God bring you hope during times of affliction? How has God used refining fires to shape your character?
Loving God, thank You for holding me, molding me, and reminding me that I’m Yours.
How are we to respond when we face hardship? Watch this video to learn how God is with us in our toughest moments.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Friday, March 21, 2025
Interest or Identification?
I have been crucified with Christ. — Galatians 2:20
Paul doesn’t say, “I’ve decided to imitate Christ” or “I’m interested in following Christ.” He says, “I have been crucified with Christ”: he has become identified with Christ in Christ’s death.
In my spiritual life, the essential need is to sign the death warrant of my sinful disposition. I must issue a moral verdict against the idea that I have a right to myself, drawing on every emotional and intellectual tool at my disposal to make the decision Paul made. When I do, when I come to the decision to identify myself with Christ’s death, everything that Christ won on the cross is realized in me. By freely committing myself to God, I allow the Holy Spirit to impart to me the holiness of Jesus Christ.
“The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God” (Galatians 2:20). My individual life continues, but the wellspring of my character, my ruling disposition, is radically altered. My body remains as it was, but the satanic belief I used to have—the belief in my right to myself—is destroyed. Paul emphasizes that he is living this life “now.” It isn’t a life he plans to live one day; it’s the life he’s living “in the body”—the body that other people can see. This body bears witness to the life of Christ within it: “And I no longer live, but Christ lives in me” (v. 20).
Joshua 7-9; Luke 1:21-38
WISDOM FROM OSWALD
A fanatic is one who entrenches himself in invincible ignorance.
Baffled to Fight Better, 59 R
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Friday, March 21, 2025
THE "BUSY" CLUB - #9965
When someone in our house felt overworked or unfairly overloaded, sometimes you'd hear them say, kiddingly I think, "Hey, I thought Lincoln freed the slaves!" Well, actually, I think the members of our family might have been right about all of us. We do need an update on that Emancipation Proclamation. In fact, you might be surprised who the slaves are today, and the slave master. Spiritually, that is. The slaves are nice people, successful people - maybe someone like you.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "The 'Busy' Club."
Now, our word for today from the Word of God is found in Deuteronomy 5. I'm going to read from verse 12. Now, this is the second time around to a new generation of Jews that the Ten Commandments are given. In the original Ten Commandments it said that you are to keep the Sabbath Day holy - a day of rest. But notice there is a new addition this time - I'll read it to you.
"Observe the Sabbath day by keeping it holy as the Lord your God has commanded you." Now, that's pretty much the same as the first time around in Exodus 20. "Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work, neither you, nor your son, nor your daughter, nor your manservant, nor your maidservant..."
Now, this sort of closes up the loophole, saying, "Okay, I won't work, I'll just get the other guys to do it." It goes on to say, "no, nor your ox, your donkey or any of your animals." Now, just in case you had a visitor in the house and you were going to have him mow the lawn for you, it says, "not the alien within your gates, so that your manservant and maidservant may rest as you do. Remember that you were slaves in Egypt and that the Lord God brought you out of there with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm. Therefore, the Lord your God has commanded you to observe the Sabbath day."
Now, get this command here. He talks about our working life, he acknowledges that we are going to be working much or most of the time, but then He says, "It is my commandment that you get regular rest and regular worship during that time. Then He goes back to the subject of slavery. He says, "There was a time, my people, when you had no choice about working all the time. You were slaves then. There was a time when you had to work without rest, but now you can choose, and I want you to choose regularly, on a weekly basis, to stop and rest and stop all the busyness around you and bring it to a halt.
Now He's saying, "Don't lose your priorities now that you can choose to rest." You know, in our world today we are like all accelerator and no brakes. We're living lives without Sabbaths. They're supposed to be part of the created order of God. Think about your own life - the rat race, the gerbil wheel you run on. Your times off maybe are getting farther apart, they're shorter. Your family is beginning to feel your absence because you've been running to work so much. You've piled one commitment on top of another, so you can't ever stop. And you've got so many competing commitments, there's just no time to rest. There's little time left just to crash, to play, to laugh, to think, to meet your Lord. You're not doing your work - you are your work.
Stand back, would you? There's a better way to live with regular rest as ordained by Almighty God. Otherwise, the implication is, you're a slave. You're a slave to your work. Don't live in violation of God's command to rest. The alternative is slavery. And remember, Jesus freed the slaves.
