Max Lucado Daily: Something to Complain About
If you look hard enough and long enough, you’ll find something to complain about!
Adam and Eve did. Surrounded by all they needed, they set their eyes on the one thing they couldn’t have.
The followers of Moses did. They could’ve focused on the miracles, but instead they focused on their problems.
What are you looking at? The one fruit you can’t eat? Or the million you can? The manna or the misery?
Philippians 4:8 says “Whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, lovely, of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy, meditate on these things.”
Even the garden of Eden looks gray to some. But it needn’t to you. Jesus who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus! Give every day a chance!
From Great Day Every Day
Exodus 20
God spoke all these words:
I am God, your God,
who brought you out of the land of Egypt,
out of a life of slavery.
3 No other gods, only me.
4–6 No carved gods of any size, shape, or form of anything whatever, whether of things that fly or walk or swim. Don’t bow down to them and don’t serve them because I am God, your God, and I’m a most jealous God, punishing the children for any sins their parents pass on to them to the third, and yes, even to the fourth generation of those who hate me. But I’m unswervingly loyal to the thousands who love me and keep my commandments.
7 No using the name of God, your God, in curses or silly banter; God won’t put up with the irreverent use of his name.
8–11 Observe the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Work six days and do everything you need to do. But the seventh day is a Sabbath to God, your God. Don’t do any work—not you, nor your son, nor your daughter, nor your servant, nor your maid, nor your animals, not even the foreign guest visiting in your town. For in six days God made Heaven, Earth, and sea, and everything in them; he rested on the seventh day. Therefore God blessed the Sabbath day; he set it apart as a holy day.
12 Honor your father and mother so that you’ll live a long time in the land that God, your God, is giving you.
13 No murder.
14 No adultery.
15 No stealing.
16 No lies about your neighbor.
17 No lusting after your neighbor’s house—or wife or servant or maid or ox or donkey. Don’t set your heart on anything that is your neighbor’s.
18–19 All the people, experiencing the thunder and lightning, the trumpet blast and the smoking mountain, were afraid—they pulled back and stood at a distance. They said to Moses, “You speak to us and we’ll listen, but don’t have God speak to us or we’ll die.”
20 Moses spoke to the people: “Don’t be afraid. God has come to test you and instill a deep and reverent awe within you so that you won’t sin.”
21 The people kept their distance while Moses approached the thick cloud where God was.
22–26 God said to Moses, “Give this Message to the People of Israel: ‘You’ve experienced firsthand how I spoke with you from Heaven. Don’t make gods of silver and gods of gold and then set them alongside me. Make me an earthen Altar. Sacrifice your Whole-Burnt-Offerings, your Peace-Offerings, your sheep, and your cattle on it. Every place where I cause my name to be honored in your worship, I’ll be there myself and bless you. If you use stones to make my Altar, don’t use dressed stones. If you use a chisel on the stones you’ll profane the Altar. Don’t use steps to climb to my Altar because that will expose your nakedness.’ ”
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Sunday, July 06, 2025
by Winn Collier
TODAY'S SCRIPTURE
Genesis 3:1-7
The serpent was clever, more clever than any wild animal God had made. He spoke to the Woman: “Do I understand that God told you not to eat from any tree in the garden?”
2–3 The Woman said to the serpent, “Not at all. We can eat from the trees in the garden. It’s only about the tree in the middle of the garden that God said, ‘Don’t eat from it; don’t even touch it or you’ll die.’ ”
4–5 The serpent told the Woman, “You won’t die. God knows that the moment you eat from that tree, you’ll see what’s really going on. You’ll be just like God, knowing everything, ranging all the way from good to evil.”
6 When the Woman saw that the tree looked like good eating and realized what she would get out of it—she’d know everything!—she took and ate the fruit and then gave some to her husband, and he ate.
7 Immediately the two of them did “see what’s really going on”—saw themselves naked! They sewed fig leaves together as makeshift clothes for themselves.
Today's Insights
In the creation account, Adam and Eve were the only creatures privileged to be created “in [God’s] own image” (Genesis 1:27) and given His own “breath of life” (2:7). They were also given the freedom to choose how they’d live (vv. 16-17). Adam and Eve made their decision and brought sin and death into the world (3:1-7).
When God chose the Israelites to be His covenant people, they were also given a choice of whether to obey Him (Deuteronomy 11:26-28; 30:15-20). The choices they made would result in radically different outcomes—“life and prosperity, death and destruction” (30:15). Moses encouraged them to make the right choice: “I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Now choose life” (v. 19). Jesus offers us the choice between the narrow road “that leads to life” and the broad road “that leads to destruction” (Matthew 7:13-14).
Choices and Consequences
When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food . . . she took some and ate it. Genesis 3:6
In 1890, amateur ornithologist Eugene Schieffelin decided to release sixty European starlings into New York City’s Central Park. While there were likely several introductions of the species, Schieffelin’s released starlings resulted in the first successful, documented nesting. Now there are roughly eighty-five million of the birds flapping across the continent. Unfortunately, starlings are invasive, pushing out native bird populations, spreading disease to cattle, and causing an estimated $800 million annually in damage. Schieffelin couldn’t have imagined the damage his choice would cause.
Choices can have massive consequences. Though warned, Adam and Eve couldn’t have envisioned the disastrous ramifications of their choice on all creation. God had told them they were “free to eat from any tree in the garden” (Genesis 2:16), save one, the tree in “the middle of the garden” (3:3). But deceived by that wily serpent, “[Eve] took some and ate it” (v. 6). Then Adam followed, also choosing to eat the fruit God forbade. So much destruction, heartbreak, and ruin because of one choice.
Every time we ignore God’s wisdom and choose another path, we invite calamity. It may seem that our choice is insignificant or only affects us; however, our narrow understanding or fleeting desires can easily lead us into a world of trouble. Choosing God’s way, though, leads us to life and flourishing.
Reflect & Pray
What choice has proved disastrous for you? How can you make wiser decisions?
Dear God, please help me make wise decisions.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Sunday, July 06, 2025
Vision and Reality
The burning sand will become a pool. —Isaiah 35:7
When God gives us a vision of what he wants us to be, there is always a time of preparation before the vision becomes a reality. During this time, God takes us down into the valley of humiliation and begins to batter us into shape.
Life is not as idle ore,
But iron dug from central gloom, . . .
And batter’d with the shocks of doom
To shape and use.
—Alfred Tennyson
It is in the valley that so many of us faint and give way. Satan comes in with his temptations, and we wonder if there’s any point in going on. But every vision will be made real if we have patience. Think of the enormous leisure of God! He is never in a hurry. We are always in a hurry. Inspired by the vision God has given us, we rush out to try to accomplish it, then meet with failure because we aren’t yet in proper shape. We have to stay in the valley with God until we get to the place where he can trust us with the reality. Ever since we first glimpsed the vision, God has been at work, battering us into the shape of the ideal. Over and over again, we escape from his hand, trying to shape ourselves.
The vision isn’t a castle in the air. It’s a vision God fully intends to make real. Trust yourself in the potter’s hands. Let God put you on his wheel and whirl you as he likes. As sure as God is God and you are you, you will turn out exactly in accordance with the vision. Don’t lose heart in the process. Once you’ve had a vision from God, you can try to be satisfied on a lower level, but God will never let you.
Job 32-33; Acts 14
WISDOM FROM OSWALD
Both nations and individuals have tried Christianity and abandoned it, because it has been found too difficult; but no man has ever gone through the crisis of deliberately making Jesus Lord and found Him to be a failure.
The Love of God—The Making of a Christian, 680 R
