Max Lucado Daily: IN ALL THINGS - May 5, 2025
When the cancer’s in remission, we say, “God is good.” When the pay raise comes, we announce, “God is good.” Is God only good when the outcome is? Most, if not all of us, have a contractual agreement with God. I pledge to be a good, decent person and God, in return, will: Save my child. Heal my wife. Protect my job. Only fair, right? Yet when God fails to meet our expectations we’re left spinning in a tornado of questions.
God is sovereign. James 1:17 tells us he does not change like shifting shadows. God does permit evil, but he doesn’t allow Satan, the father of evil, to triumph. Isn’t this the promise of Romans 8:28? “In all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called to his purpose.” It says “In all things.”
You'll Get Through This: Hope and Help for Turbulent Times
Genesis 33
Jacob looked up and saw Esau coming with his four hundred men. He divided the children between Leah and Rachel and the two maidservants. He put the maidservants out in front, Leah and her children next, and Rachel and Joseph last. He led the way and, as he approached his brother, bowed seven times, honoring his brother. But Esau ran up and embraced him, held him tight and kissed him. And they both wept.
5 Then Esau looked around and saw the women and children: “And who are these with you?”
Jacob said, “The children that God saw fit to bless me with.”
6–7 Then the maidservants came up with their children and bowed; then Leah and her children, also bowing; and finally, Joseph and Rachel came up and bowed to Esau.
8 Esau then asked, “And what was the meaning of all those herds that I met?”
“I was hoping that they would pave the way for my master to welcome me.”
9 Esau said, “Oh, brother. I have plenty of everything—keep what is yours for yourself.”
10–11 Jacob said, “Please. If you can find it in your heart to welcome me, accept these gifts. When I saw your face, it was as the face of God smiling on me. Accept the gifts I have brought for you. God has been good to me and I have more than enough.” Jacob urged the gifts on him and Esau accepted.
12 Then Esau said, “Let’s start out on our way; I’ll take the lead.”
13–14 But Jacob said, “My master can see that the children are frail. And the flocks and herds are nursing, making for slow going. If I push them too hard, even for a day, I’d lose them all. So, master, you go on ahead of your servant, while I take it easy at the pace of my flocks and children. I’ll catch up with you in Seir.”
15 Esau said, “Let me at least lend you some of my men.”
“There’s no need,” said Jacob. “Your generous welcome is all I need or want.”
16 So Esau set out that day and made his way back to Seir.
17 And Jacob left for Succoth. He built a shelter for himself and sheds for his livestock. That’s how the place came to be called Succoth (Sheds).
18–20 And that’s how it happened that Jacob arrived all in one piece in Shechem in the land of Canaan—all the way from Paddan Aram. He camped near the city. He bought the land where he pitched his tent from the sons of Hamor, the father of Shechem. He paid a hundred silver coins for it. Then he built an altar there and named it El-Elohe-Israel (Mighty Is the God of Israel).
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Monday, May 05, 2025
by James Banks
TODAY'S SCRIPTURE
2 Chronicles 33:10-17
When God spoke to Manasseh and his people about this, they ignored him.
11–13 Then God directed the leaders of the troops of the king of Assyria to come after Manasseh. They put a hook in his nose, shackles on his feet, and took him off to Babylon. Now that he was in trouble, he went to his knees in prayer asking for help—total repentance before the God of his ancestors. As he prayed, God was touched; God listened and brought him back to Jerusalem as king. That convinced Manasseh that God was in control.
14–17 After that Manasseh rebuilt the outside defensive wall of the City of David to the west of the Gihon spring in the valley. It went from the Fish Gate and around the hill of Ophel. He also increased its height. He tightened up the defense system by posting army captains in all the fortress cities of Judah. He also did a good spring cleaning on The Temple, carting out the pagan idols and the goddess statue. He took all the altars he had set up on The Temple hill and throughout Jerusalem and dumped them outside the city. He put the Altar of God back in working order and restored worship, sacrificing Peace-Offerings and Thank-Offerings. He issued orders to the people: “You shall serve and worship God, the God of Israel.” But the people didn’t take him seriously—they used the name “God” but kept on going to the old pagan neighborhood shrines and doing the same old things.
Today's Insights
The fifty-five-year reign of Manasseh, king of Judah, is summarized in 2 Kings 21:2: “He did evil in the eyes of the Lord.” Manasseh “rebuilt the high places” and set up “an Asherah pole” (21:3), a sacred pole that honored the pagan goddess Asherah. In addition, he shed “much innocent blood” and led his people to follow his wrongdoing (v. 16). His life is further described in 2 Chronicles 33. He defiled the temple by setting up “altars to the Baals” and “bowed down to all the starry hosts” (v. 3). He even sacrificed his own children (v. 6). But after being taken captive to Babylon, Manasseh humbly prayed to God, was returned to his throne in Jerusalem, and ended his reign seeking to right his many wrongs (vv. 10-17). Likewise, we can humbly turn to Him for a fresh start.
God of the Fresh Start
When he prayed to him, the Lord was moved. 2 Chronicles 33:13
“The Merchant of Death is Dead!” That was the headline for an obituary that may have caused Alfred Nobel, the inventor of dynamite, to make a course correction in his life. But the newspaper made a mistake—Alfred was very much alive. It was his brother Ludvig who had died. When Alfred realized he’d be remembered for a dangerous invention that claimed many lives, he decided to donate most of his significant wealth to establishing an award for those who had benefited humanity. It became known as the Nobel Prize.
More than two thousand years earlier, another powerful man had a change of heart. Manasseh, king of Judah, rebelled against God. As a result, he was taken captive to Babylon. But “in his distress he sought the favor of the Lord,” and “when he prayed,” God “brought him back to Jerusalem and to his kingdom” (2 Chronicles 33:12-13). Manasseh spent the rest of his rule in peace, serving God and doing his best to undo the wrongs he’d done before.
“The Lord was moved” by Manasseh’s prayer (v. 13). God responds to humility. When we realize we need to make a change in the way we’re living and turn to Him, He never turns us away. He meets us with grace we don’t deserve and renews us with the self-giving love He poured out at the cross. New beginnings begin with Him.
Reflect & Pray
Where in your life do you need to have a change of heart? How will you turn to God today?
Forgiving Father, thank You that You’ll never turn me away. Please help me to turn to You with all my heart in all I do today.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Monday, May 05, 2025
Judgment through Love
For it is time for judgment to begin with God’s household. — 1 Peter 4:17
The Christian disciple must never forget that salvation is God’s thought, not humanity’s; it is something we can never hope to fathom. Salvation is not an experience. Experience is merely the gateway by which we become conscious of our salvation. Never preach the experience; preach the great thought of God.
When we preach, we aren’t proclaiming how humanity can be saved from hell and be made moral and pure; we are conveying good news about God. Our role as preachers is to present his truth, not to give sympathy. We are never to sympathize with a soul who finds it difficult to get to God. God isn’t to blame, nor is it for us to find out the reason for the difficulty. We are simply to deliver his truth, so that his Spirit can show what’s wrong. The gold standard of preaching is that it brings all who hear to judgment in the Spirit. The Spirit reveals each soul to itself.
In the teachings of Jesus Christ, the element of judgment is always prevalent. God’s judgment is the sign of his love, an overflowing mercy that separates right from wrong. If the salvation of Jesus Christ is alive and active inside us, it always takes the form of a judgment, one that brings an understanding of God’s justice, even in his severest statements.
Do you find the requirements of Jesus severe? If our Lord ever gave a command he couldn’t enable us to fulfill, he would be a liar. When we make our inability a barrier to obedience, we are telling God there is something he hasn’t taken into account. We can do nothing through our own abilities; we must allow the power of God to slay every ounce of self-reliance. Complete weakness and dependence will allow the Spirit of God to manifest his power.
1 Kings 19-20; Luke 23:1-25
WISDOM FROM OSWALD
The place for the comforter is not that of one who preaches, but of the comrade who says nothing, but prays to God about the matter. The biggest thing you can do for those who are suffering is not to talk platitudes, not to ask questions, but to get into contact with God, and the “greater works” will be done by prayer (see John 14:12–13).
Baffled to Fight Better, 56 R
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Monday, May 05, 2025
Under Control in an Out-of-Control World - #9996
So, what can you do when you realize there's an accident about to happen and you can do nothing to avoid being part of it? Well, your best bet is to try to limit the damage.
My wife knows. She was driving down a snow-covered hill. Snow was still falling. She proceeded cautiously as she neared the bottom as there were cars ahead of her. She looked in the rearview mirror and she saw a car coming over the top of the hill that she had just driven over, but this one was coming at a fairly high rate of speed and he was not adapting to the weather at all. This was years ago, but man, we still remember it.
That car slammed down the brake and of course when he did that, he started to lose control. My wife knew that car was headed for her; it was out-of-control. She couldn't cross the line into the other lane. There were cars coming that way. There were cars ahead of her. What could she do? Speed up so she wouldn't be rear-ended? But then she'd lose control of her vehicle and run into the others. She made the right choice. She pulled over, gripped the wheel so she wouldn't be out-of-control and hit others. And sure enough, the car behind her hit her. But, she did not hit the others in front of her. She was smart enough to be the one who maintained control when others weren't.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Under Control in an Out-of-Control World."
Well, Our word for today from the Word of God; 2 Timothy 3, where the Apostle Paul says this in verse 1 - "Mark this: There will be terrible times in the last days. People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control..." And it continues. Then he turns to us as believers and to Timothy at that time and says, "But as for you, you continue in what you have learned and have become convinced of, because you know from those whom you have learned it." (2 Timothy 3:14)
Hang onto the wheel when everybody else is out-of-control he's saying. Yeah, don't let go of that wheel! Don't you lose control. The world's losing control! It's ignoring the boundaries. They're driving fast on slippery pavement. Don't you speed up just because they are.
You know, the world has always been, let's say, oh, ten miles distant from the church, because the world has always been farther from God than the church is. The church is always going to be a little more moral, a little more righteous. But as the world moves away from God, the church maintains that same distance. So very quickly many Christians today are where the world was only a few years ago.
You know what? It's time to grab the wheel and to say, "I'm not moving any further." Maybe you'll take some hits like my wife did, but you've got to say, "I won't be responsible for causing any damage myself." Other believers may see divorce as no big deal, as an answer. But you say it's not an option for us. Others may treat the truth lightly. I'm going to work harder than ever to hold the wheel and tell the truth.
Others may devalue sex and love by playing with sex or flirting with technical virginity, but my eyes are on Jesus and the purity He represents. Maybe others are building a material kingdom here on earth, but I'm not going to be trapped in that rat race. I want to set a level at what I need and give the rest away.
You can count on it: the world is speeding away from God's standards, but Ephesians 6:13 is still in the book. And it says, "Put on the full armor of God so that when the day of evil comes you may be able to stand your ground." Yeah!
So, hold on! Maintain control! Because of your allegiance to Christ's standards, you'll be the one who is under control in an out-of-control world.
