Max Lucado Daily: A HIGHER PURPOSE - May 1, 2025
God promises, “When you pass through the waters, I’ll be with you; and through the rivers, they will not overflow you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned, nor will the flame scorch you” (Isaiah 43:2 NKJV). Will your unhappy marriage become happy in a heartbeat? Not likely. Does God guarantee the absence of struggle? Not in this life. But he does pledge to reweave your pain for a higher purpose.
It won’t be quick. Joseph was 17 years old when his brothers abandoned him; he was 37 when he saw them again. Another year passed before he saw his father. Sometimes God takes his time. But remember this: you are a version of Joseph in your generation. His story is in the Bible for this reason: yo teach us to trust God to trump evil. And what Satan intends for evil, God redeems for good. You will get through this!
You'll Get Through This: Hope and Help for Turbulent Times
Genesis 31
Jacob learned that Laban’s sons were talking behind his back: “Jacob has used our father’s wealth to make himself rich at our father’s expense.” At the same time, Jacob noticed that Laban had changed toward him. He wasn’t treating him the same.
3 That’s when God said to Jacob, “Go back home where you were born. I’ll go with you.”
4–9 So Jacob sent word for Rachel and Leah to meet him out in the field where his flocks were. He said, “I notice that your father has changed toward me; he doesn’t treat me the same as before. But the God of my father hasn’t changed; he’s still with me. You know how hard I’ve worked for your father. Still, your father has cheated me over and over, changing my wages time and again. But God never let him really hurt me. If he said, ‘Your wages will consist of speckled animals’ the whole flock would start having speckled lambs and kids. And if he said, ‘From now on your wages will be streaked animals’ the whole flock would have streaked ones. Over and over God used your father’s livestock to reward me.
10–11 “Once, while the flocks were mating, I had a dream and saw the billy goats, all of them streaked, speckled, and mottled, mounting their mates. In the dream an angel of God called out to me, ‘Jacob!’
“I said, ‘Yes?’
12–13 “He said, ‘Watch closely. Notice that all the goats in the flock that are mating are streaked, speckled, and mottled. I know what Laban’s been doing to you. I’m the God of Bethel where you consecrated a pillar and made a vow to me. Now be on your way, get out of this place, go home to your birthplace.’ ”
14–16 Rachel and Leah said, “Has he treated us any better? Aren’t we treated worse than outsiders? All he wanted was the money he got from selling us, and he’s spent all that. Any wealth that God has seen fit to return to us from our father is justly ours and our children’s. Go ahead. Do what God told you.”
17–18 Jacob did it. He put his children and his wives on camels and gathered all his livestock and everything he had gotten, everything acquired in Paddan Aram, to go back home to his father Isaac in the land of Canaan.
19–21 Laban was off shearing sheep. Rachel stole her father’s household gods. And Jacob had concealed his plans so well that Laban the Aramean had no idea what was going on—he was totally in the dark. Jacob got away with everything he had and was soon across the Euphrates headed for the hill country of Gilead.
22–24 Three days later, Laban got the news: “Jacob’s run off.” Laban rounded up his relatives and chased after him. Seven days later they caught up with him in the hill country of Gilead. That night God came to Laban the Aramean in a dream and said, “Be careful what you do to Jacob, whether good or bad.”
25 When Laban reached him, Jacob’s tents were pitched in the Gilead mountains; Laban pitched his tents there, too.
26–30 “What do you mean,” said Laban, “by keeping me in the dark and sneaking off, hauling my daughters off like prisoners of war? Why did you run off like a thief in the night? Why didn’t you tell me? Why, I would have sent you off with a great celebration—music, timbrels, flutes! But you wouldn’t permit me so much as a kiss for my daughters and grandchildren. It was a stupid thing for you to do. If I had a mind to, I could destroy you right now, but the God of your father spoke to me last night, ‘Be careful what you do to Jacob, whether good or bad.’ I understand. You left because you were homesick. But why did you steal my household gods?”
31–32 Jacob answered Laban, “I was afraid. I thought you would take your daughters away from me by brute force. But as far as your gods are concerned, if you find that anybody here has them, that person dies. With all of us watching, look around. If you find anything here that belongs to you, take it.” Jacob didn’t know that Rachel had stolen the gods.
33–35 Laban went through Jacob’s tent, Leah’s tent, and the tents of the two maids but didn’t find them. He went from Leah’s tent to Rachel’s. But Rachel had taken the household gods, put them inside a camel cushion, and was sitting on them. When Laban had gone through the tent, searching high and low without finding a thing, Rachel said to her father, “Don’t think I’m being disrespectful, my master, that I can’t stand before you, but I’m having my period.” So even though he turned the place upside down in his search, he didn’t find the household gods.
36–37 Now it was Jacob’s turn to get angry. He lit into Laban: “So what’s my crime, what wrong have I done you that you badger me like this? You’ve ransacked the place. Have you turned up a single thing that’s yours? Let’s see it—display the evidence. Our two families can be the jury and decide between us.
38–42 “In the twenty years I’ve worked for you, ewes and she-goats never miscarried. I never feasted on the rams from your flock. I never brought you a torn carcass killed by wild animals but that I paid for it out of my own pocket—actually, you made me pay whether it was my fault or not. I was out in all kinds of weather, from torrid heat to freezing cold, putting in many a sleepless night. For twenty years I’ve done this: I slaved away fourteen years for your two daughters and another six years for your flock and you changed my wages ten times. If the God of my father, the God of Abraham and the Fear of Isaac, had not stuck with me, you would have sent me off penniless. But God saw the fix I was in and how hard I had worked and last night rendered his verdict.”
43–44 Laban defended himself: “The daughters are my daughters, the children are my children, the flock is my flock—everything you see is mine. But what can I do about my daughters or for the children they’ve had? So let’s settle things between us, make a covenant—God will be the witness between us.”
45 Jacob took a stone and set it upright as a pillar.
46–47 Jacob called his family around, “Get stones!” They gathered stones and heaped them up and then ate there beside the pile of stones. Laban named it in Aramaic, Yegar-sahadutha (Witness Monument); Jacob echoed the naming in Hebrew, Galeed (Witness Monument).
48–50 Laban said, “This monument of stones will be a witness, beginning now, between you and me.” (That’s why it is called Galeed—Witness Monument.) It is also called Mizpah (Watchtower) because Laban said, “God keep watch between you and me when we are out of each other’s sight. If you mistreat my daughters or take other wives when there’s no one around to see you, God will see you and stand witness between us.”
51–53 Laban continued to Jacob, “This monument of stones and this stone pillar that I have set up is a witness, a witness that I won’t cross this line to hurt you and you won’t cross this line to hurt me. The God of Abraham and the God of Nahor (the God of their ancestor) will keep things straight between us.”
53–55 Jacob promised, swearing by the Fear, the God of his father Isaac. Then Jacob offered a sacrifice on the mountain and worshiped, calling in all his family members to the meal. They ate and slept that night on the mountain. Laban got up early the next morning, kissed his grandchildren and his daughters, blessed them, and then set off for home.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Thursday, May 01, 2025
by Brent Hackett
TODAY'S SCRIPTURE
1 Kings 19:8-14
He got up, ate and drank his fill, and set out. Nourished by that meal, he walked forty days and nights, all the way to the mountain of God, to Horeb. When he got there, he crawled into a cave and went to sleep.
Then the word of God came to him: “So Elijah, what are you doing here?”
10 “I’ve been working my heart out for the God-of-the-Angel-Armies,” said Elijah. “The people of Israel have abandoned your covenant, destroyed the places of worship, and murdered your prophets. I’m the only one left, and now they’re trying to kill me.”
11–12 Then he was told, “Go, stand on the mountain at attention before God. God will pass by.”
A hurricane wind ripped through the mountains and shattered the rocks before God, but God wasn’t to be found in the wind; after the wind an earthquake, but God wasn’t in the earthquake; and after the earthquake fire, but God wasn’t in the fire; and after the fire a gentle and quiet whisper.
13–14 When Elijah heard the quiet voice, he muffled his face with his great cloak, went to the mouth of the cave, and stood there. A quiet voice asked, “So Elijah, now tell me, what are you doing here?” Elijah said it again, “I’ve been working my heart out for God, the God-of-the-Angel-Armies, because the people of Israel have abandoned your covenant, destroyed your places of worship, and murdered your prophets. I’m the only one left, and now they’re trying to kill me.”
Today's Insights
Some scholars believe that in 1 Kings 19, Elijah was suffering from depression. He was weary after three and a half hard years of ministry, the events on Mount Carmel, and his flight from the wrath of Jezebel. But notice how kindly God cares for his discouraged servant. He gives Elijah rest to compensate for his fatigue and then provides him with food to restore his strength (vv. 5-7). Later, God would continue His care for him by assigning him new tasks to focus on—anointing kings and training Elisha (vv. 15-18). Today, as we serve God, we can listen for His voice and receive His compassionate care.
Listening for God’s Voice
After the fire came a gentle whisper. 1 Kings 19:12
In the early twentieth century, New York City had become a noisy place. With an overhead train, cars, trolleys, newsboys yelling, and people rushing around—life was loud! Yet, one day at Broadway and 34th Street, a man named Charles Kellogg declared to his friend, “Listen, I hear a cricket.”
“Impossible,” his friend answered. “With all this racket, you couldn’t hear a tiny sound like that.” Yet Mr. Kellogg insisted and eventually found the cricket, chirping in the window of a bakery. “What astonishing hearing you have,” his friend proclaimed. “Not at all,” Mr. Kellogg replied. “It’s a matter of where you focus your attention.”
Elijah was a prophet of God who’d just seen Him perform an amazing display of His power, but now the prophet was hiding in a cave for fear of the pagan queen (1 Kings 19:1-9). This time, however, God didn’t want to communicate in a powerful way. Even though He had sent a great wind, an earthquake, and even a roaring fire (vv. 11-12), it was time now for Elijah to commune with God personally and quietly. God wanted to speak to the prophet in “a gentle whisper” (v. 12).
Today, there’s a surplus of noise in our lives, yet God still speaks in a quiet voice through the Scriptures and by His Spirit. Taking time to prayerfully focus our attention on God will help us tune in to His comforting, guiding voice.
Reflect & Pray
What noises are crowding in on your life? How can you listen for God’s voice in your busy world?
Dear Father, I thank You that I can listen for Your Spirit to speak to me quietly.
Learn how prayer helps us tune into to God's voice and focuses focuses our thoughts on Him.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Thursday, May 01, 2025
For we live by faith, not by sight. — 2 Corinthians 5:7 (moffatt)
At times, we are conscious of receiving God’s attentions; we feel the light of his inspiration shining upon us, and we delight to do his will. But when he begins to use us in ways we don’t like, putting us to work at tasks that seem lowly or unimportant, we take on a pathetic attitude. We begin to talk about trials and difficulties, not understanding that God wants us to do our duty in obscurity.
None of us would work in spiritual obscurity if we had the choice. We’d prefer to be illuminated saints, with gilded haloes shining about our heads, on display for all to see. But gilt-edged saints are no good. They are unfit for daily life and completely unlike God. We are men and women, not half-fledged angels. We are here to do the work of the world, and to do it with an infinitely greater power of endurance than those who haven’t been born from above.
Can we do our duty when God has shut up heaven? If we’re always trying to recapture rare moments of inspiration, it’s a sign that it isn’t really God we’re after. Instead, we’re making a fetish of a feeling, insisting that God deliver that feeling to us again and again. How many of us simply refuse to do anything until God inspires us? He never will—not until we take action. God wants us to walk by faith. He wants us to get up on our own, without the touch of his inspiration. When we do, we have the surprising revelation that God was there all along.
Never live for the rare moments. They are God’s surprises. God will give us the touch of inspiration when he sees we aren’t in danger of being led astray by it. We must never make moments of inspiration the standard for our lives. Our standard is our duty.
1 Kings 10-11; Luke 21:20-38
WISDOM FROM OSWALD
We are in danger of being stern where God is tender, and of being tender where God is stern.
The Love of God—The Message of Invincible Consolation, 673 L
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Thursday, May 01, 2025
ANSWERS THAT AREN'T ANSWERS - #9994
Sometimes when I'm in a store and it's time to pay up, I'll say to the cashier, "Listen, I want to show you something from a museum." And I pull out some cash. I say, "Do you accept cash?" You should see the look! I get this bewildered kind of look, and they're like, "Well, of course we accept cash." Well, it may be the first cash they've gotten in several transactions though. It's probably a given that they see more 'plastic' money than 'paper' money these days.
I think many of us got credit cards in order to make it more convenient to buy items. Instead of being more convenient, credit cards have caused us to buy a lot of things that we can't afford. Somehow when you're shopping with a credit card you... well, you kind of lose touch with reality. I mean, there's no real sense of what you've spent. It feels like you haven't spent anything until the bill comes. And, therefore, these credit cards that were supposed to make life easier somewhat, account for massive debts and financial
bondage in a lot of people's lives.
That credit card was supposed to give us financial freedom. Instead, it's enslaved a whole lot of people. Well, credit cards, like a lot of things in life, can turn out to be an answer that only creates bigger problems.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Answers That Aren't Answers."
Our word for today from the Word of God: 2 Chronicles 25. I'll begin reading at verse 7. It's an incident from the life of the King of Judah, the Southern Kingdom. His name is Amaziah. Maybe you remember that the kingdom at one point was divided into two parts; Israel was the Northern Kingdom, Judah the Southern Kingdom. Amaziah was the King of Judah, and he had a major enemy coming against him. So he's hired 100,000 fighting men from Israel.
Here's what it says, "Amaziah called the people of Judah together and he mustered those 20 years old or more and found there were 300,000 men ready for military service able to handle the spear and shield. He also hired 100,000 fighting men from Israel for a hundred talents of silver." Well, that sounds like a good answer doesn't it if you're under military pressure? But it says, "A man of God came to him and said, 'Oh, King, these troops from Israel must not march with you, for the Lord is not with Israel. Even if you go and fight courageously in battle, God will overthrow you before the enemy, for God has the power to help or to overthrow.'"
There's a pretty powerful principle in that story. Amaziah has spent his money on what he thinks is an answer. He's depending on it, but it did not have the blessing of God. The battle's going to be lost if you don't have the blessing of God on it. See, it isn't your effort that matters. It isn't the size of the answer that you have. If you are employing a solution that God can't bless, you can't win.
Now, right now maybe you have a need for love and you are letting an unbeliever fill it. It won't work! God says, "Don't be unequally yoked." See, there are things God can't bless. He can't bless you if your way of doing it is to disobey your parents. Or if it means playing with the truth, flirting with immorality, or running ahead of God's timing. Oh, you may see what looks like an answer. It might make social sense, it might make financial sense, business sense, emotional sense, but if it will cost you the blessing of God, you can't afford it. It's too expensive.
In verse 9 it says the Lord can give you much more than that. Don't waste your time, don't waste your life on an answer that isn't an answer, because it misses the blessing of Almighty God.
