Song of Solomon 6 , Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals

 

Max Lucado Daily: A WALL FALLS - January 23, 2023

“Jews refuse to have anything to do with Samaritans” (John 4:9 NLT). The two cultures had hated each other for a thousand years. Most Jews would gladly double the length of their trip rather than go through Samaria.

Jesus, however, played by a different set of rules. He loves to break down walls. That’s why he sent Philip to Samaria. And when he did, the city broke out into a revival. Peter and John traveled from Jerusalem to Samaria to confirm it. According to verses 15 to 17 of Acts chapter 8, “…as yet [the Holy Spirit] had fallen upon none of them…Then they laid hands on them, and they received the Holy Spirit.”

Why delay the gift? Simple. To celebrate the falling of a wall. The gospel, for the first time, was breaching an ancient bias. Let any doubt be gone: God accepts all people.

Song of Solomon 6

The Chorus

So where has this love of yours gone,

    fair one?

Where on earth can he be?

    Can we help you look for him?

The Woman

2-3 Never mind. My lover is already on his way to his garden,

    to browse among the flowers, touching the colors and forms.

I am my lover’s and my lover is mine.

    He caresses the sweet-smelling flowers.

The Man

4-7 Dear, dear friend and lover,

    you’re as beautiful as Tirzah, city of delights,

Lovely as Jerusalem, city of dreams,

    the ravishing visions of my ecstasy.

Your beauty is too much for me—I’m in over my head.

    I’m not used to this! I can’t take it in.

Your hair flows and shimmers

    like a flock of goats in the distance

    streaming down a hillside in the sunshine.

Your smile is generous and full—

    expressive and strong and clean.

Your veiled cheeks

    are soft and radiant.

8-9 There’s no one like her on earth,

    never has been, never will be.

She’s a woman beyond compare.

    My dove is perfection,

Pure and innocent as the day she was born,

    and cradled in joy by her mother.

Everyone who came by to see her

    exclaimed and admired her—

All the fathers and mothers, the neighbors and friends,

    blessed and praised her:

10 “Has anyone ever seen anything like this—

    dawn-fresh, moon-lovely, sun-radiant,

    ravishing as the night sky with its galaxies of stars?”

11-12 One day I went strolling through the orchard,

    looking for signs of spring,

Looking for buds about to burst into flower,

    anticipating readiness, ripeness.

Before I knew it my heart was raptured,

    carried away by lofty thoughts!

13 Dance, dance, dear Shulammite, Angel-Princess!

    Dance, and we’ll feast our eyes on your grace!

Everyone wants to see the Shulammite dance

    her victory dances of love and peace.

Our Daily Bread reading and devotion

Monday, January 23, 2023

Today's Scripture

Luke 15:1–10

The Story of the Lost Sheep

By this time a lot of men and women of questionable reputation were hanging around Jesus, listening intently. The Pharisees and religion scholars were not pleased, not at all pleased. They growled, “He takes in sinners and eats meals with them, treating them like old friends.” Their grumbling triggered this story.

4-7 “Suppose one of you had a hundred sheep and lost one. Wouldn’t you leave the ninety-nine in the wilderness and go after the lost one until you found it? When found, you can be sure you would put it across your shoulders, rejoicing, and when you got home call in your friends and neighbors, saying, ‘Celebrate with me! I’ve found my lost sheep!’ Count on it—there’s more joy in heaven over one sinner’s rescued life than over ninety-nine good people in no need of rescue.

The Story of the Lost Coin

8-10 “Or imagine a woman who has ten coins and loses one. Won’t she light a lamp and scour the house, looking in every nook and cranny until she finds it? And when she finds it you can be sure she’ll call her friends and neighbors: ‘Celebrate with me! I found my lost coin!’ Count on it—that’s the kind of party God’s angels throw every time one lost soul turns to God.”

Insight

Tax collectors were seen as betraying their people by colluding with the Roman government. Many tax collectors abused their role by taking more money than required for taxes and keeping the surplus for themselves (Luke 3:12–13). Scholars aren’t sure what specifically caused people to be labeled “sinners” (15:1), but these persons too would have been excluded from the religious community.

Luke portrays these social and religious outcasts sympathetically. Tax collectors came to John the Baptist eager to know how to repent (3:12). Jesus called Levi the tax collector to follow Him, and Levi immediately did, then hosted a banquet for Him (5:27–30). A woman the Pharisees described as a sinner (7:39) is praised by Christ for her faith (v. 50). Luke argued that those who know they’re sinners are most likely to hear and follow Jesus (5:31–32; 15:1). By: Monica La Rose

Lost, Found, Joy

Rejoice with me; I have found my lost sheep. Luke 15:6

“They call me ‘the ringmaster.’ So far this year I’ve found 167 lost rings.”

During a walk on the beach with my wife, Cari, we struck up a conversation with an older man who was using a metal detector to scan an area just below the surf line. “Sometimes rings have names on them,” he explained, “and I love seeing their owners’ faces when I return them. I post online and check to see if anyone contacted lost and found. I’ve found rings missing for years.” When we mentioned that I enjoy metal detecting as well but didn’t do it frequently, his parting words were, “You never know unless you go!”           

We find another kind of “search and rescue” in Luke 15. Jesus was criticized for caring about people who were far from God (vv. 1–2). In reply, He told three stories about things that were lost and then found—a sheep, a coin, and a son. The man who finds the lost sheep “joyfully puts it on his shoulders and goes home. Then he calls his friends and neighbors together and says, ‘Rejoice with me’ ” (vv. 5–6). All the stories are ultimately about finding lost people for Christ, and the joy that comes as they’re found in Him.

Jesus came “to seek and to save the lost” (19:10), and He calls us to follow Him in loving people back to God (see Matthew 28:19). The joy of seeing others turn to Him awaits. We’ll never know unless we go. By:  James Banks

Reflect & Pray

What joy have you seen when people turn to God? How will you point others to Jesus’ love today?

Thank You, Jesus, for finding and loving me! Please send me in Your joy to another who needs You today.

My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers

Monday, January 23, 2023

Transformed by Beholding

We all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image… —2 Corinthians 3:18

The greatest characteristic a Christian can exhibit is this completely unveiled openness before God, which allows that person’s life to become a mirror for others. When the Spirit fills us, we are transformed, and by beholding God we become mirrors. You can always tell when someone has been beholding the glory of the Lord, because your inner spirit senses that he mirrors the Lord’s own character. Beware of anything that would spot or tarnish that mirror in you. It is almost always something good that will stain it— something good, but not what is best.

The most important rule for us is to concentrate on keeping our lives open to God. Let everything else including work, clothes, and food be set aside. The busyness of things obscures our concentration on God. We must maintain a position of beholding Him, keeping our lives completely spiritual through and through. Let other things come and go as they will; let other people criticize us as they will; but never allow anything to obscure the life that “is hidden with Christ in God” (Colossians 3:3). Never let a hurried lifestyle disturb the relationship of abiding in Him. This is an easy thing to allow, but we must guard against it. The most difficult lesson of the Christian life is learning how to continue “beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord….”

WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS

The measure of the worth of our public activity for God is the private profound communion we have with Him.… We have to pitch our tents where we shall always have quiet times with God, however noisy our times with the world may be. My Utmost for His Highest, January 6, 736 R

Bible in a Year: Exodus 7-8; Matthew 15:1-20

A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft

Monday, January 23, 2023

WHEN YOU'RE TIRED OF CLIMBING - #9401

I was speaking at a Christian conference center in the Midwest; actually, speaking at least three times a day there! Don't feel bad for me. No, feel bad for the people who had to listen to me all those times! After about three days, I decided to grab some break time to do something I had wanted to do since I arrived. I wanted to climb this monster sand dune that's not far from the conference center. It was just sitting there all week saying, "Climb me, Ron! Climb me!" So I grabbed a couple of friends and we started trudging up this huge mountain of sand. At first, we were charging up that dune, all full of energy. But if you've ever climbed a sand dune, you know it gets pretty exhausting pretty fast. After a while, you could hear the huffing and the puffing and you could feel the steps slowing down. My climbing partners were starting to lose their enthusiasm for the rest of the climb - especially when they looked up and saw how far we still had to go. So I encouraged them to stop for a minute and rest, and to look down. We needed to look at how far we had come - not just how far we still had to go.

I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "When You're Tired Of Climbing."

It could be that you're climbing a pretty steep slope right now. It's been a long climb, and as you look ahead, you've still got a long way to go, maybe spiritually, maybe emotionally, maybe in getting through a time of great pain, or a great need. Maybe it's in working through some family problems. And right now you're battling some discouragement, maybe some feelings of giving up, maybe it's just deep weariness. You're discouraged by how much is left to do; the amount of ground you still have to cover. And it might be bringing you to a standstill.

I want to encourage you to hang onto our word for today from the Word of God like a drowning person would hang onto a life preserver. It's Philippians 1:6. "Being confident of this, that He who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus." See, what Jesus starts, Jesus finishes. And He's started something in your life, and He's not about to stop before He finishes it.

You can draw from that promise the courage to take the next step, and to keep going when you feel like quitting. That day we actually finished our climb - that great sand dune conquest. And the view from the top was inspiring; not to mention the exhilaration and the satisfaction of knowing we had reached our goal, no matter how hard it was.

What helped us finish may help you finish, too. If you focus on how far you've got to go, you're going to be discouraged. But you need to look back at where you were before you started climbing - way down at the bottom of that mountain, looking at climbing the whole thing. Look at how far you've come! Look at how far Jesus has brought you! The same Lord who brought you from the bottom to this point will take you the rest of the way!

Something else helped on that day we climbed the big dune. We didn't keep looking at how far we had to go - we concentrated on taking the next step. God's promised strength for our days, mercies that are new every morning, a cross you pick up one day at a time. So all you need to do is take that next step. Don't get all weighed down thinking about all the steps ahead, just that next one. The Bible says, "The steps of a righteous man are ordered by the Lord, and he delights in his way" (Psalm 37:23).

Yes, it's been a long climb, and yes, you have a ways to go yet. But look at the work Jesus has already done; look at how far He's brought you. Just keep taking that next step. Your Lord has promised He'll take you all the way to the top!

Acts 7:1-21, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals

Max Lucado Daily: The State of Your Heart ·

Luke 6:45 says,  “. . .out of the overflow of his heart his mouth speaks.”  That is why the state of the heart is so critical. So what’s the state of your heart?

When your to-do list is too long, do you lose your cool or keep it?  Well, that depends on the state of your heart. When you’re offered gossip marinated in slander, do you turn it down or pass it on? That depends on the state of your heart. Do you see the bag lady as a burden on society or as an opportunity for God?  That too depends on the state of your heart.

No wonder the wise man in Proverbs begs, “Above all else, guard your heart” (Proverbs 4:23). David’s prayer should be ours: “Create in me a pure heart, O God” (Psalm 51:10).

And Jesus’ statement rings true, “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God” (Matthew 5:8).

From The Applause of Heaven

Acts 7:1-21

Stephen, Full of the Holy Spirit

Then the Chief Priest said, “What do you have to say for yourself?”

2-3 Stephen replied, “Friends, fathers, and brothers, the God of glory appeared to our father Abraham when he was still in Mesopotamia, before the move to Haran, and told him, ‘Leave your country and family and go to the land I’ll show you.’

4-7 “So he left the country of the Chaldees and moved to Haran. After the death of his father, he immigrated to this country where you now live, but God gave him nothing, not so much as a foothold. He did promise to give the country to him and his son later on, even though Abraham had no son at the time. God let him know that his offspring would move to an alien country where they would be enslaved and brutalized for four hundred years. ‘But,’ God said, ‘I will step in and take care of those slaveholders and bring my people out so they can worship me in this place.’

8 “Then he made a covenant with him and signed it in Abraham’s flesh by circumcision. When Abraham had his son Isaac, within eight days he reproduced the sign of circumcision in him. Isaac became father of Jacob, and Jacob father of twelve ‘fathers,’ each faithfully passing on the covenant sign.

9-10 “But then those ‘fathers,’ burning up with jealousy, sent Joseph off to Egypt as a slave. God was right there with him, though—he not only rescued him from all his troubles but brought him to the attention of Pharaoh, king of Egypt. He was so impressed with Joseph that he put him in charge of the whole country, including his own personal affairs.

11-15 “Later a famine descended on that entire region, stretching from Egypt to Canaan, bringing terrific hardship. Our hungry fathers looked high and low for food, but the cupboard was bare. Jacob heard there was food in Egypt and sent our fathers to scout it out. Having confirmed the report, they went back to Egypt a second time to get food. On that visit, Joseph revealed his true identity to his brothers and introduced the Jacob family to Pharaoh. Then Joseph sent for his father, Jacob, and everyone else in the family, seventy-five in all. That’s how the Jacob family got to Egypt.

15-16 “Jacob died, and our fathers after him. They were taken to Shechem and buried in the tomb for which Abraham paid a good price to the sons of Hamor.

17-19 “When the four hundred years were nearly up, the time God promised Abraham for deliverance, the population of our people in Egypt had become very large. And there was now a king over Egypt who had never heard of Joseph. He exploited our race mercilessly. He went so far as forcing us to abandon our newborn infants, exposing them to the elements to die a cruel death.

20-22 “In just such a time Moses was born, a most beautiful baby. He was hidden at home for three months. When he could be hidden no longer, he was put outside—and immediately rescued by Pharaoh’s daughter, who mothered him as her own son. Moses was educated in the best schools in Egypt. He was equally impressive as a thinker and an athlete.

Our Daily Bread reading and devotion

Sunday, January 22, 2023

Today's Scripture

Psalm 18:16–19

But me he caught—reached all the way

    from sky to sea; he pulled me out

Of that ocean of hate, that enemy chaos,

    the void in which I was drowning.

They hit me when I was down,

    but God stuck by me.

He stood me up on a wide-open field;

    I stood there saved—surprised to be loved!

Insight

Because of David’s success and popularity (1 Samuel 17; 18:15–16), the jealous King Saul tried to kill him (18:10–11). On the run for his life, David sought refuge in mountains and caves (22:1; 23:26; 24:3). But David was mindful that it was God who delivered, protected, and kept him safe. Out of his experience as a fugitive, he wrote Psalm 18 as a thanksgiving song, as noted in the superscription: “Of David the servant of the Lord. He sang to the Lord the words of this song when the Lord delivered him from the hand of all his enemies and from the hand of Saul.” This song is also found in 2 Samuel 22. David used various metaphors to describe who God was to him: a rock, fortress, deliverer, refuge, shield, horn of salvation, stronghold, and savior (Psalm 18:2–3)—all pictures of protection, security, deliverance, and safety. By: K. T. Sim

Reaching Out

He reached down from on high and took hold of me. Psalm 18:16

In a recent post, blogger Bonnie Gray recounted the moment when overwhelming sadness began to creep into her heart. “Out of the blue,” she stated, “during the happiest chapter in my life, . . . I suddenly started experiencing panic attacks and depression.” Gray tried to find different ways to address her pain, but she soon realized that she wasn’t strong enough to handle it alone. “I hadn’t wanted anyone to question my faith, so I kept quiet and prayed that my depression would go away. But God wants to heal us, not shame us or make us hide from our pain.” Gray found healing in the solace of His presence; He was her anchor amid the waves that threatened to overwhelm her.

When we’re in a low place and filled with despair, God is there and will sustain us too. In Psalm 18, David praised God for delivering him from the low place he was in after nearly being defeated by his enemies. He proclaimed, “[God] reached down from on high and took hold of me; he drew me out of deep waters” (v. 16). Even in moments when despair seems to consume us like crashing waves in an ocean, God loves us so much that He’ll reach out to us and help us, bringing us into a “spacious place” of peace and security (v. 19). Let’s look to Him as our refuge when we feel overwhelmed by the challenges of life. By:  Kimya Loder

Reflect & Pray

When have you felt overwhelmed by trials? How did God sustain you?

Heavenly Father, there are times when my burdens become too much to carry. Thank You for continuously reaching out to me, sustaining me, and granting me Your peace, strength, and wisdom.

For further study, read When the Going Gets Tough: Finding Hope and Joy in Our Trials.

My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers

Sunday, January 22, 2023

Am I Looking To God?

Look to Me, and be saved… —Isaiah 45:22

Do we expect God to come to us with His blessings and save us? He says, “Look to Me, and be saved….” The greatest difficulty spiritually is to concentrate on God, and His blessings are what make it so difficult. Troubles almost always make us look to God, but His blessings tend to divert our attention elsewhere. The basic lesson of the Sermon on the Mount is to narrow all your interests until your mind, heart, and body are focused on Jesus Christ. “Look to Me….”

Many of us have a mental picture of what a Christian should be, and looking at this image in other Christians’ lives becomes a hindrance to our focusing on God. This is not salvation— it is not simple enough. He says, in effect, “Look to Me and you are saved,” not “You will be saved someday.” We will find what we are looking for if we will concentrate on Him. We get distracted from God and irritable with Him while He continues to say to us, “Look to Me, and be saved….” Our difficulties, our trials, and our worries about tomorrow all vanish when we look to God.

Wake yourself up and look to God. Build your hope on Him. No matter how many things seem to be pressing in on you, be determined to push them aside and look to Him. “Look to Me….” Salvation is yours the moment you look.

WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS

The great point of Abraham’s faith in God was that he was prepared to do anything for God.

Not Knowing Whither

Bible in a Year: Exodus 4-6; Matthew 14:22-36

Song of Solomon 5, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals

 Max Lucado Daily: Blessed are the Merciful

Could someone actually be forgiven a debt of millions and be unable to forgive a debt of hundreds? Could a person be set free and then imprison another? You don't have to be a theologian to answer those questions; just look in the mirror.

Who among us hasn't begged God for mercy on Sunday and then demanded justice on Monday? Is there anyone who doesn't, at one time or another, show contempt for the riches of God's kindness, tolerance and patience, not realizing that God's kindness leads you toward repentance?

Look into the face of the One who forgave you.  Who wept when you pleaded for mercy.  Look into the face of the Father who gave you grace when no one else gave you a chance. "Blessed are the merciful," Jesus said (Matthew 5:7). Why? "Because they will be shown mercy."

You see, forgiving others allows us to see how God has forgiven us!

From The Applause of Heaven

Song of Solomon 5

The Woman

I was sound asleep, but in my dreams I was wide awake.

    Oh, listen! It’s the sound of my lover knocking, calling!

The Man

“Let me in, dear companion, dearest friend,

    my dove, consummate lover!

I’m soaked with the dampness of the night,

    drenched with dew, shivering and cold.”

The Woman

3 “But I’m in my nightgown—do you expect me to get dressed?

    I’m bathed and in bed—do you want me to get dirty?”

4-7 But my lover wouldn’t take no for an answer,

    and the longer he knocked, the more excited I became.

I got up to open the door to my lover,

    sweetly ready to receive him,

Desiring and expectant

    as I turned the door handle.

But when I opened the door he was gone.

    My loved one had tired of waiting and left.

And I died inside—oh, I felt so bad!

    I ran out looking for him

But he was nowhere to be found.

    I called into the darkness—but no answer.

The night watchmen found me

    as they patrolled the streets of the city.

They slapped and beat and bruised me,

    ripping off my clothes,

These watchmen,

    who were supposed to be guarding the city.

8 I beg you, sisters in Jerusalem—

    if you find my lover,

Please tell him I want him,

    that I’m heartsick with love for him.

The Chorus

9 What’s so great about your lover, fair lady?

What’s so special about him that you beg for our help?

The Woman

10-16 My dear lover glows with health—

    red-blooded, radiant!

He’s one in a million.

    There’s no one quite like him!

My golden one, pure and untarnished,

    with raven black curls tumbling across his shoulders.

His eyes are like doves, soft and bright,

    but deep-set, brimming with meaning, like wells of water.

His face is rugged, his beard smells like sage,

    His voice, his words, warm and reassuring.

Fine muscles ripple beneath his skin,

    quiet and beautiful.

His torso is the work of a sculptor,

    hard and smooth as ivory.

He stands tall, like a cedar,

    strong and deep-rooted,

A rugged mountain of a man,

    aromatic with wood and stone.

His words are kisses, his kisses words.

    Everything about him delights me, thrills me

        through and through!

That’s my lover, that’s my man,

    dear Jerusalem sisters.

Our Daily Bread reading and devotion

Saturday, January 21, 2023

Today's Scripture

Ephesians 4:1–5, 25–31

To Be Mature

In light of all this, here’s what I want you to do. While I’m locked up here, a prisoner for the Master, I want you to get out there and walk—better yet, run!—on the road God called you to travel. I don’t want any of you sitting around on your hands. I don’t want anyone strolling off, down some path that goes nowhere. And mark that you do this with humility and discipline—not in fits and starts, but steadily, pouring yourselves out for each other in acts of love, alert at noticing differences and quick at mending fences.

4-6 You were all called to travel on the same road and in the same direction, so stay together, both outwardly and inwardly. You have one Master, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who rules over all, works through all, and is present in all. Everything you are and think and do is permeated with Oneness.

25 What this adds up to, then, is this: no more lies, no more pretense. Tell your neighbor the truth. In Christ’s body we’re all connected to each other, after all. When you lie to others, you end up lying to yourself.

26-27 Go ahead and be angry. You do well to be angry—but don’t use your anger as fuel for revenge. And don’t stay angry. Don’t go to bed angry. Don’t give the Devil that kind of foothold in your life.

28 Did you use to make ends meet by stealing? Well, no more! Get an honest job so that you can help others who can’t work.

29 Watch the way you talk. Let nothing foul or dirty come out of your mouth. Say only what helps, each word a gift.

30 Don’t grieve God. Don’t break his heart. His Holy Spirit, moving and breathing in you, is the most intimate part of your life, making you fit for himself. Don’t take such a gift for granted.

31-32 Make a clean break with all cutting, backbiting, profane talk. Be gentle with one another, sensitive. Forgive one another as quickly and thoroughly as God in Christ forgave you.

Insight

On his third missionary journey, Paul spent three years teaching the believers in Ephesus (Acts 19; 20:31). Some six years later, concerned for their spiritual well-being and maturity, he wrote from a Roman prison (Ephesians 3:1; 4:1; 6:20) reminding them how God had so richly and graciously blessed them (1:3). After extolling the privileges, position, and possessions they had because of Jesus (chs. 1–3), the apostle instructed them to “live a life worthy of [their] calling” (4:1), an exhortation that Paul similarly made to the Philippian (1:27), Colossian (1:10), and Thessalonian believers (1 Thessalonians 2:12; 2 Thessalonians 1:11). The Ephesian believers were to be like Christ in how they treated one another—humble, gentle, patient, forbearing, loving, encouraging, kind, compassionate, and forgiving (Ephesians 4:2, 29–32).

Learn more about the life of Paul. By: K. T. Sim

Coffee Breath

Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love. Ephesians 4:2

I was sitting in my chair one morning years ago when my youngest came downstairs. She made a beeline for me, jumping up onto my lap. I gave her a fatherly squeeze and a gentle kiss on the head, and she squealed with delight. But then she furrowed her brow, crinkled her nose, and shot an accusatory glance at my coffee mug. “Daddy,” she announced solemnly. “I love you, and I like you, but I don’t like your smell.”

My daughter couldn’t have known it, but she spoke with grace and truth: she didn’t want to hurt my feelings, but she felt compelled to tell me something. And sometimes we need to do that in our relationships.  

In Ephesians 4, Paul zeroes in on how we relate to each other—especially when telling difficult truths. “Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love” (v. 2). Humility, gentleness, and patience form our relational foundation. Cultivating those character qualities as God guides us will help us “[speak] the truth in love” (v. 15) and seek to communicate “what is helpful for building others up according to their needs” (v. 29).

No one likes being confronted about weaknesses and blind spots. But when something about us “smells,” God can use faithful friends to speak into our lives with grace, truth, humility, and gentleness.

By:  Adam Holz

Reflect & Pray

When has someone gently confronted you? What do you think is most important when you lovingly address a weakness you see in others?

Father, help me to humbly receive correction, and help me to offer it with love, grace, and gentleness.

My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers

Saturday, January 21, 2023

Recall What God Remembers

Thus says the Lord: "I remember…the kindness of your youth…" —Jeremiah 2:2

Am I as spontaneously kind to God as I used to be, or am I only expecting God to be kind to me? Does everything in my life fill His heart with gladness, or do I constantly complain because things don’t seem to be going my way? A person who has forgotten what God treasures will not be filled with joy. It is wonderful to remember that Jesus Christ has needs which we can meet— “Give Me a drink” (John 4:7). How much kindness have I shown Him in the past week? Has my life been a good reflection on His reputation?

God is saying to His people, “You are not in love with Me now, but I remember a time when you were.” He says, “I remember…the love of your betrothal…” (Jeremiah 2:2). Am I as filled to overflowing with love for Jesus Christ as I was in the beginning, when I went out of my way to prove my devotion to Him? Does He ever find me pondering the time when I cared only for Him? Is that where I am now, or have I chosen man’s wisdom over true love for Him? Am I so in love with Him that I take no thought for where He might lead me? Or am I watching to see how much respect I get as I measure how much service I should give Him?

As I recall what God remembers about me, I may also begin to realize that He is not what He used to be to me. When this happens, I should allow the shame and humiliation it creates in my life, because it will bring godly sorrow, and “godly sorrow produces repentance…” (2 Corinthians 7:10).

WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS

Beware of bartering the Word of God for a more suitable conception of your own.  Disciples Indeed, 386 R

Bible in a Year: Exodus 1-3; Matthew 14:1-21

Song of Solomon 4, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals

Max Lucado Daily: EVIDENCE OF GOD - January 20, 2023

Everything in creation gives evidence of God’s existence. The intricacy of snowflakes, the roar of a thunderstorm, the bubbling of a cool mountain stream. These miracles and a million more give testimony to the existence of a brilliant, wise, and tireless God. The facts lead to a wonderful conclusion. God is…and God is knowable.

“Since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made” (Romans 1:20 NKJV). He promises success to all who search for him. Of course, we will never know him entirely. Our God is knowable, but he is incomprehensible. The mark of a saint is that he or she is growing in the knowledge of God. Our highest pursuit is the pursuit of our Maker. And he will make himself known to all who seek him.

Song of Solomon 4

The Man

You’re so beautiful, my darling,

    so beautiful, and your dove eyes are veiled

By your hair as it flows and shimmers,

    like a flock of goats in the distance

    streaming down a hillside in the sunshine.

Your smile is generous and full—

    expressive and strong and clean.

Your lips are jewel red,

    your mouth elegant and inviting,

    your veiled cheeks soft and radiant.

The smooth, lithe lines of your neck

    command notice—all heads turn in awe and admiration!

Your breasts are like fawns,

    twins of a gazelle, grazing among the first spring flowers.

6-7 The sweet, fragrant curves of your body,

    the soft, spiced contours of your flesh

Invite me, and I come. I stay

    until dawn breathes its light and night slips away.

You’re beautiful from head to toe, my dear love,

    beautiful beyond compare, absolutely flawless.

8-15 Come with me from Lebanon, my bride.

    Leave Lebanon behind, and come.

Leave your high mountain hideaway.

    Abandon your wilderness seclusion,

Where you keep company with lions

    and panthers guard your safety.

You’ve captured my heart, dear friend.

    You looked at me, and I fell in love.

    One look my way and I was hopelessly in love!

How beautiful your love, dear, dear friend—

    far more pleasing than a fine, rare wine,

    your fragrance more exotic than select spices.

The kisses of your lips are honey, my love,

    every syllable you speak a delicacy to savor.

Your clothes smell like the wild outdoors,

    the fresh scent of high mountains.

Dear lover and friend, you’re a secret garden,

    a private and pure fountain.

Body and soul, you are paradise,

    a whole orchard of succulent fruits—

Ripe apricots and peaches,

    oranges and pears;

Nut trees and cinnamon,

    and all scented woods;

Mint and lavender,

    and all herbs aromatic;

A garden fountain, sparkling and splashing,

    fed by spring waters from the Lebanon mountains.

The Woman

16 Wake up, North Wind,

    get moving, South Wind!

Breathe on my garden,

    fill the air with spice fragrance.

Oh, let my lover enter his garden!

    Yes, let him eat the fine, ripe fruits.

Our Daily Bread reading and devotion

Friday, January 20, 2023

Today's Scripture

Song of Songs 8:5–7

The Chorus

5 Who is this I see coming up from the country,

    arm in arm with her lover?

The Man

I found you under the apricot tree,

    and woke you up to love.

Your mother went into labor under that tree,

    and under that very tree she bore you.

The Woman

6-8 Hang my locket around your neck,

    wear my ring on your finger.

Love is invincible facing danger and death.

    Passion laughs at the terrors of hell.

The fire of love stops at nothing—

    it sweeps everything before it.

Flood waters can’t drown love,

    torrents of rain can’t put it out.

Love can’t be bought, love can’t be sold—

    it’s not to be found in the marketplace.

My brothers used to worry about me:

8-9 “Our little sister has no breasts.

    What shall we do with our little sister

    when men come asking for her?

She’s a virgin and vulnerable,

    and we’ll protect her.

If they think she’s a wall, we’ll top it with barbed wire.

    If they think she’s a door, we’ll barricade it.”

Insight

Scholars have long had difficulty interpreting Song of Songs (also called Song of Solomon). Perhaps uncomfortable with its theme of intimate love, many have attempted to turn the book’s storyline into allegory. Most scholars today, however, view the song as a description of physical love between a man and a woman. In today’s reading (8:5–7), the woman initiates the intimacy. Her reference to the “seal over your heart” (v. 6) represents her desire to claim mutual ownership of her beloved. She has exclusive rights to him and all that he has, as he also has those rights with her.

The book can also be viewed as symbolic in representing genuine marital love as a complete commitment to each other. This comprises an apt representation of the church as the bride of Christ (see 2 Corinthians 11:2).

By: Tim Gustafson

Love like Blazing Fire

[Love] burns like blazing fire, like a mighty flame. Song of Songs 8:6

Poet, painter, and printmaker William Blake enjoyed a forty-five-year marriage with his wife, Catherine. From their wedding day until his death in 1827, they worked side by side. Catherine added color to William’s sketches, and their devotion endured years of poverty and other challenges. Even in his final weeks as his health failed, Blake kept at his art, and his final sketch was his wife’s face. Four years later, Catherine died clutching one of her husband’s pencils in her hand.

The Blakes’ vibrant love offers a reflection of the love discovered in the Song of Songs. And while the Song’s description of love certainly has implications for marriage, early believers in Jesus believed it also points to Jesus’ unquenchable love for all His followers. The Song describes a love “as strong as death,” which is a remarkable metaphor since death is as final and unescapable a reality as humans will ever know (8:6). This strong love “burns like blazing fire, like a mighty flame” (v. 6). And unlike fires we’re familiar with, these flames can’t be doused, not even by a deluge. “Many waters cannot quench love,” the Song insists (v. 7).

Who among us doesn’t desire true love? The Song reminds us that whenever we encounter genuine love, God is the ultimate source. And in Jesus, each of us can know a profound and undying love—one that burns like a blazing fire. By:  Winn Collier

Reflect & Pray

Where have you encountered strong love? How does Jesus’ love encourage you?

Dear God, please help me to receive Your love and share it with others.

For further study, read How God Loves Us.

My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers

Friday, January 20, 2023

Are You Fresh for Everything?

Jesus answered and said to him, "Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God." —John 3:3

Sometimes we are fresh and eager to attend a prayer meeting, but do we feel that same freshness for such mundane tasks as polishing shoes?

Being born again by the Spirit is an unmistakable work of God, as mysterious as the wind, and as surprising as God Himself. We don’t know where it begins— it is hidden away in the depths of our soul. Being born again from above is an enduring, perpetual, and eternal beginning. It provides a freshness all the time in thinking, talking, and living— a continual surprise of the life of God. Staleness is an indication that something in our lives is out of step with God. We say to ourselves, “I have to do this thing or it will never get done.” That is the first sign of staleness. Do we feel fresh this very moment or are we stale, frantically searching our minds for something to do? Freshness is not the result of obedience; it comes from the Holy Spirit. Obedience keeps us “in the light as He is in the light…” (1 John 1:7).

Jealously guard your relationship with God. Jesus prayed “that they may be one just as We are one” — with nothing in between (John 17:22). Keep your whole life continually open to Jesus Christ. Don’t pretend to be open with Him. Are you drawing your life from any source other than God Himself? If you are depending on something else as your source of freshness and strength, you will not realize when His power is gone.

Being born of the Spirit means much more than we usually think. It gives us new vision and keeps us absolutely fresh for everything through the never-ending supply of the life of God.

WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS

Crises reveal character. When we are put to the test the hidden resources of our character are revealed exactly.  Disciples Indeed, 393 R

Bible in a Year: Genesis 49-50; Matthew 13:31-58

A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft

Friday, January 20, 2023

HANDING LOVE BACK - #9400

Ah, Laurie. She may have been my first romantic crush. It was 7th grade. I was insecure - that's a synonym for 7th grade - and I didn't know how she felt about me. So one day I went to the store, I spent all the money I had - which wasn't much - on a little rhinestone necklace. (Yeah, pretty romantic, huh?) And then I wrote this mushy little note to Laurie and I put it in an envelope with that necklace. The next day, as I was sitting in study hall, (the only class we had together), I smelled that perfume. I knew Laurie was approaching. I handed her that love-filled envelope, which she took with her to her desk. The next day - study hall, approach of the killer perfume - my heart was beating out of my chest. Then, as Laurie went by, something very familiar appeared on my desk. It was that envelope - with the necklace and the note inside. Ouch! Of course, it didn't really bother me that much ... then why am I talking about it so many years later?

Well, I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Handing Love Back."

It really did hurt - spending everything I had on someone I cared about, and having it just handed back to me. Jesus knows that feeling...maybe from you.

God's Son went out one day and spent everything He had on you - not with money at a store, but with His blood on a cross. The Bible puts it this way, "This is love: not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins." (1 John 4:10). In other words, even though you and I did the sinning, Jesus did the dying for it. He paid the death penalty, not for any sins of His own - He didn't have any - but for every time you've lived your way instead of God's way.

No one's ever loved you like Jesus. He paid this awful price because it was the only way for you to ever have your sins forgiven, for you to ever be able to get into God's heaven. So He bought you a relationship with God...He bought you an eternity in heaven. But what He paid for with His life is a GIFT according to the Bible. Which means it's only yours if you take it.

Like that girl Laurie in 7th grade, she chose to reject that gift and hand it back to me. Well, today there's someone listening who's done that to the Son of God, maybe over and over again. You've heard what Jesus did on the cross for you...you've heard that He asks you to commit yourself to Him as your only hope with God...but you have, in effect, just said, "That's nice. No thanks." Or maybe you've just said, "Keep it for now, Jesus. I'll take it later." But no matter how polite you've been, you have rejected His love.

In our word for today from the Word of God in Matthew 23, Jesus says of people He cared very much about, "How often have I longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing" (verse 37). Is He talking about you? "How often have I longed for us to be together ... but you were not willing."

There's only one reason Jesus has kept coming back - He loves you. But some time will be the last time, because your heart will get too hard to respond...or because your heart stops and you've had your last chance...or because Jesus is calling one last time. Haven't you handed back His love too many times already? Today, one more time, He holds out His nail-pierced hand to you to give you His love; to give you His eternal life. It's time to take His love.

Just tell Him, right where you are, "Jesus, I'm Yours, beginning right now, right here." You ready to begin your personal relationship with Him? Our website's there for you for a moment like this. Please, please go there - ANewStory.com. You can be sure you belong to Him.

God's Son has loved you enough to spend His life for you. Now don't hand back His love.

Acts 6 , Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals

 

Max Lucado Daily: CHOSEN, DESTINED, AND LOVED - January 19, 2023

“Let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds,… encouraging one another” (Hebrews 10:24-25).

Two cows were grazing in a pasture when a milk truck drove by. On the side of the truck were the words pasteurized, homogenized, standardized, vitamin A added. Noticing this, one cow said to the other, “Makes you kind of feel inadequate, doesn’t it?” Inadequacy indwells a billion hearts.

Who is going to tell people the truth? Will you distribute encouragement to the world? Will you remind humanity that we are made in God’s image? That we are chosen, destined, and loved? That God is for us, not against us? That we are in God’s hand, in God’s plan? Will you go face-to-face with the tidal wave of inadequacy that sucks people out to sea? Will you encourage someone today?

Acts 6

The Word of God Prospered

During this time, as the disciples were increasing in numbers by leaps and bounds, hard feelings developed among the Greek-speaking believers—“Hellenists”—toward the Hebrew-speaking believers because their widows were being discriminated against in the daily food lines. So the Twelve called a meeting of the disciples. They said, “It wouldn’t be right for us to abandon our responsibilities for preaching and teaching the Word of God to help with the care of the poor. So, friends, choose seven men from among you whom everyone trusts, men full of the Holy Spirit and good sense, and we’ll assign them this task. Meanwhile, we’ll stick to our assigned tasks of prayer and speaking God’s Word.”

5-6 The congregation thought this was a great idea. They went ahead and chose—

Stephen, a man full of faith and the Holy Spirit,

Philip,

Procorus,

Nicanor,

Timon,

Parmenas,

Nicolas, a convert from Antioch.

Then they presented them to the apostles. Praying, the apostles laid on hands and commissioned them for their task.

7 The Word of God prospered. The number of disciples in Jerusalem increased dramatically. Not least, a great many priests submitted themselves to the faith.

* * *

8-10 Stephen, brimming with God’s grace and energy, was doing wonderful things among the people, unmistakable signs that God was among them. But then some men from the meeting place whose membership was made up of freed slaves, Cyrenians, Alexandrians, and some others from Cilicia and Asia, went up against him trying to argue him down. But they were no match for his wisdom and spirit when he spoke.

11 So in secret they bribed men to lie: “We heard him cursing Moses and God.”

12-14 That stirred up the people, the religious leaders, and religion scholars. They grabbed Stephen and took him before the High Council. They put forward their bribed witnesses to testify: “This man talks nonstop against this Holy Place and God’s Law. We even heard him say that Jesus of Nazareth would tear this place down and throw out all the customs Moses gave us.”

15 As all those who sat on the High Council looked at Stephen, they found they couldn’t take their eyes off him—his face was like the face of an angel!

Our Daily Bread reading and devotion

Thursday, January 19, 2023

Today's Scripture

Matthew 5:43–48

“You’re familiar with the old written law, ‘Love your friend,’ and its unwritten companion, ‘Hate your enemy.’ I’m challenging that. I’m telling you to love your enemies. Let them bring out the best in you, not the worst. When someone gives you a hard time, respond with the supple moves of prayer, for then you are working out of your true selves, your God-created selves. This is what God does. He gives his best—the sun to warm and the rain to nourish—to everyone, regardless: the good and bad, the nice and nasty. If all you do is love the lovable, do you expect a bonus? Anybody can do that. If you simply say hello to those who greet you, do you expect a medal? Any run-of-the-mill sinner does that.

48 “In a word, what I’m saying is, Grow up. You’re kingdom subjects. Now live like it. Live out your God-created identity. Live generously and graciously toward others, the way God lives toward you.”

Insight

The teaching of Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5–7) was a corrective to the teaching and practices of popular religion in His day. Thus, He repeatedly said, “You have heard that it was said . . . . But I tell you” (5:21–44). Of note is His command to “be perfect” (v. 48). As with the other commands, Christ calls His followers to a higher standard. However, the perfection that’s in view isn’t moral perfection (sinlessness). The Greek word teleios (from telos,) translated “perfect,” means “completeness” or “maturity,” something arriving at an intended end. Jesus calls His followers to “relational” maturity—an indiscriminate, mature love like the love of the heavenly Father. It’s a love that’s undeterred by pedigree or label, the kind of love modeled by the Samaritan in the parable in Luke 10:25–37. By: Arthur Jackson

But I’m Telling You

But I tell you, love your enemies. Matthew 5:44

“I know what they’re saying. But I’m telling you . . .” As a boy, I heard my mother give that speech a thousand times. The context was always peer pressure. She was trying to teach me not to follow the herd. I’m not a boy any longer, but herd mentality’s still alive and kicking. A current example is this phrase: “Only surround yourself with positive people.” Now while that phrase may be commonly heard, the question we must ask is: “Is that Christlike?”    

“But I’m telling you . . .” Jesus uses that lead-in a number of times in Matthew 5. He knows full well what the world is constantly telling us. But His desire is that we live differently. In this case, He says, “Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you” (v. 44). Later in the New Testament, the apostle Paul uses that very word to describe guess who? That’s right: us—“while we were God’s enemies” (Romans 5:10). Far from some “do as I say, not as I do,” Jesus backed up His words with actions. He loved us, and gave His life for us.

What if Christ had only made room in His life for “positive people”? Where would that leave us? Thanks be to God that His love is no respecter of persons. For God so loved the world, and in His strength we are called to do likewise.  By:  John Blase

Reflect & Pray

When’s the last time someone extended love to you when you weren’t “positive”? What’s a tangible way today that you can show love to an enemy?

Father, it’s tempting to surround myself with only those who love me. But that’s not living, at least not the kind of living You desire for me. Help me to love even my enemies.

My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers

Thursday, January 19, 2023

Vision and Darkness

When the sun was going down, a deep sleep fell upon Abram; and behold, horror and great darkness fell upon him. —Genesis 15:12

Whenever God gives a vision to a Christian, it is as if He puts him in “the shadow of His hand” (Isaiah 49:2). The saint’s duty is to be still and listen. There is a “darkness” that comes from too much light— that is the time to listen. The story of Abram and Hagar in Genesis 16 is an excellent example of listening to so-called good advice during a time of darkness, rather than waiting for God to send the light. When God gives you a vision and darkness follows, wait. God will bring the vision He has given you to reality in your life if you will wait on His timing. Never try to help God fulfill His word. Abram went through thirteen years of silence, but in those years all of his self-sufficiency was destroyed. He grew past the point of relying on his own common sense. Those years of silence were a time of discipline, not a period of God’s displeasure. There is never any need to pretend that your life is filled with joy and confidence; just wait upon God and be grounded in Him (see Isaiah 50:10-11).

Do I trust at all in the flesh? Or have I learned to go beyond all confidence in myself and other people of God? Do I trust in books and prayers or other joys in my life? Or have I placed my confidence in God Himself, not in His blessings? “I am Almighty God…”— El-Shaddai, the All-Powerful God (Genesis 17:1). The reason we are all being disciplined is that we will know God is real. As soon as God becomes real to us, people pale by comparison, becoming shadows of reality. Nothing that other saints do or say can ever upset the one who is built on God.

WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS

It is not what a man does that is of final importance, but what he is in what he does. The atmosphere produced by a man, much more than his activities, has the lasting influence.  Baffled to Fight Better, 51 L

Bible in a Year: Genesis 46-48; Matthew 13:1-30

A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft

Thursday, January 19, 2023

HOW TO HAVE EVERYTHING YOU NEED WHEN YOU NEED IT - #9399

When you've passed thousands of cars on the Interstate, you've seen a whole lot of bumper stickers - most of which you've forgotten. But there's one I saw I've never forgotten. It was just five little words - words which weren't even that original. But as I passed that particular car, I glanced inside at the passengers, and suddenly the bumper sticker took on great meaning. A mother was driving and she had her child in the back seat. It was a little boy, who even with a quick glance, I could see had some severe mental handicaps. You know, this lady had a very challenging life, and I knew how she was handling it because the bumper sticker told me. It simply said, "One day at a time."

I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "How to Have Everything You Need When You Need It."

God has made His plan for meeting your needs very simple and very clear. One five-letter word sums it up. And one Bible story wonderfully illustrates it - 1 Kings 17, beginning with verse 2. It's our word for today from the Word of God. God's prophet, Elijah, has just delivered an unsettling message from God to Israel's King Ahab - that it will not rain for the next few years. Well, that didn't make Elijah a finalist for "Man of the Year" in the king's book.

So the Bible says, "The word of the Lord came to Elijah: 'Leave here...and hide in the Kerith Ravine, east of the Jordan. You will drink from the brook, and I have ordered the ravens to feed you there.' So he did what the Lord had told him... The ravens brought him bread and meat in the morning and bread and meat in the evening, and he drank from the brook." So, here sits Elijah in the wilderness, totally dependent on God for his next meal. Those ravens didn't bring a month's groceries or even a week's groceries. In fact, they didn't even bring enough for the whole day. Okay, breakfast was there. Sure hope they show up again tonight for dinner, or I'll have nothing to eat. But with all normal sources unavailable to God's man, God has this surprising and creative method of meeting his needs. He "orders the ravens" in twice a day.

Now, if you belong to Jesus Christ, Elijah's God is your God; always making sure your needs are supplied, usually, like that bumper sticker said, one day at a time. See, the key word here, that five-letter word I talked about earlier, "daily." What God does for us, He does on a daily basis. And why one day at a time? Well, to keep you close to Him...to keep you faithful, always asking, "Am I doing what I should be doing with what He's already given me?" And to keep you pure - asking, while you're waiting for the ravens, "Is there anything in my life that might be holding back God's blessing?"

God wants you to live His plan for your life in these little 24-hour, bite-size chunks called days. The Bible says, "This is the day the Lord has made" (Psalm 118:24)..."His mercies are new every morning" (Lamentations 3:23)..."Daily He bears our burdens" (Psalm 68:19). You get it? We're to live out our commitment to Christ by taking up our cross "daily" (Luke 9:23), and the Bible says our "strength will equal" our "days."

The strength you need, the provision you need, the grace you need, the answers you need, the help you need, and the encouragement you need - He's going to send you what you need on the day you need it and not a day earlier. So when you get all worried and fearful about what's beyond today, you're running ahead of your supply lines. Because you don't have tomorrow's "bread," tomorrow's strength, or tomorrow's grace until that day comes. So you're trying to carry tomorrow's burden with today's grace, and you're going to stumble.

So, where is what you need going to come from? From your Jehovah-Jireh, the Lord who provides. How will He supply what you need? Oh, He has so many ways, but you can be sure that, as in Elijah's time of need, God has "ordered His ravens" to deliver it. And when will you have it? You can be sure you'll have everything you need on the day you need it. Until then, your assignment is clear - be where God wants you to be, doing what God wants you to do that day. Oh, and you might want to go open that window to let the ravens in.

Song of Solomon 3, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals

Max Lucado Daily: ALREADY DEFEATED - January 18, 2023

Satan appears in the garden at the beginning. He is cast into the fire in the end. He tempted David, he bewildered Saul, and waged an attack on Job. Serious students of Scripture must be serious about Satan. Jesus was.

“The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the devil’s work” (1 John 3:8). He squared off against Satan in the wilderness. Jesus saw Satan not as a mythological image, not an invention of allegory. He saw the devil as a superhuman narcissist. When Jesus taught us to pray, he did not say, “Deliver us from nebulous negative emotions.” He said, “Deliver us from the evil one” (Matthew 6:13).

We play into the devil’s hand when we pretend he does not exist. The devil is a real devil. But—and this is huge—the devil is a defeated devil.

Song of Solomon 3

Restless in bed and sleepless through the night,

    I longed for my lover.

    I wanted him desperately. His absence was painful.

So I got up, went out and roved the city,

    hunting through streets and down alleys.

I wanted my lover in the worst way!

    I looked high and low, and didn’t find him.

And then the night watchmen found me

    as they patrolled the darkened city.

    “Have you seen my dear lost love?” I asked.

No sooner had I left them than I found him,

    found my dear lost love.

I threw my arms around him and held him tight,

    wouldn’t let him go until I had him home again,

    safe at home beside the fire.

5 Oh, let me warn you, sisters in Jerusalem,

    by the gazelles, yes, by all the wild deer:

Don’t excite love, don’t stir it up,

    until the time is ripe—and you’re ready.

6-10 What’s this I see, approaching from the desert,

    raising clouds of dust,

Filling the air with sweet smells

    and pungent aromatics?

Look! It’s Solomon’s carriage,

    carried and guarded by sixty soldiers,

    sixty of Israel’s finest,

All of them armed to the teeth,

    trained for battle,

    ready for anything, anytime.

King Solomon once had a carriage built

    from fine-grained Lebanon cedar.

He had it framed with silver and roofed with gold.

    The cushions were covered with a purple fabric,

    the interior lined with tooled leather.

11 Come and look, sisters in Jerusalem.

    Oh, sisters of Zion, don’t miss this!

My King-Lover,

    dressed and garlanded for his wedding,

    his heart full, bursting with joy!

Our Daily Bread reading and devotion

Wednesday, January 18, 2023

Today's Scripture

Ezekiel 14:1–8

Idols in Their Hearts

 Some of the leaders of Israel approached me and sat down with me. God’s Message came to me: “Son of Man, these people have installed idols in their hearts. They have embraced the wickedness that will ruin them. Why should I even bother with their prayers? Therefore tell them, ‘The Message of God, the Master: All in Israel who install idols in their hearts and embrace the wickedness that will ruin them and still have the gall to come to a prophet, be on notice: I, God, will step in and personally answer them as they come dragging along their mob of idols. I am ready to go to work on the hearts of the house of Israel, all of whom have left me for their idols.’

6-8 “Therefore, say to the house of Israel: ‘God, the Master, says, Repent! Turn your backs on your no-god idols. Turn your backs on all your outrageous obscenities. To every last person from the house of Israel, including any of the resident aliens who live in Israel—all who turn their backs on me and embrace idols, who install the wickedness that will ruin them at the center of their lives and then have the gall to go to the prophet to ask me questions—I, God, will step in and give the answer myself. I’ll oppose those people to their faces, make an example of them—a warning lesson—and get rid of them so you will realize that I am God.

Insight

As part of their subjugation strategy, the Babylonians forcibly exiled Jewish royalty, military leaders, and skilled workers to Babylon (2 Kings 24:10–16; Daniel 1:1–5), including the prophet and priest Ezekiel. He was with the Judean exiles beside the Kebar River in Babylon when he started ministering (Ezekiel 1:1–3) to the Jews in exile (3:11) as well as to those still residing in Judah (12:10). After condemning the false prophets who taught that God wouldn’t punish His people for their sins (chs. 12–13), Ezekiel confronted the Jewish leaders for their hypocrisy and idolatry and urged God’s people to repent and turn from their idols (14:1–8). By: K. T. Sim

Heart Problem

The Sovereign Lord says: Repent! Turn from your idols and renounce all your detestable practices! Ezekiel 14:6

“Do you see it, brother Tim?” My friend, a Ghanaian pastor, flashed his torchlight on a carved object leaning against a mud hut. Quietly he said, “That is the village idol.” Each Tuesday evening, Pastor Sam traveled into the bush to share the Bible in this remote village.

In the book of Ezekiel, we see how idolatry plagued the people of Judah. When Jerusalem’s leaders came to see the prophet Ezekiel, God told him, “These men have set up idols in their hearts” (14:3). God wasn’t merely warning them against idols carved of wood and stone. He was showing them that idolatry is a problem of the heart. We all struggle with it.

Bible teacher Alistair Begg describes an idol as “anything other than God that we regard as essential to our peace, our self-image, our contentment, or our acceptability.” Even things that have the appearance of being noble can become idols to us. When we seek comfort or self-worth from anything other than the living God, we commit idolatry.

“Repent!” God said. “Turn from your idols and renounce all your detestable practices!” (v. 6). Israel proved incapable of doing this. Thankfully, God had the solution. Looking forward to the coming of Christ and the gift of the Holy Spirit, He promised, “I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you” (36:26). We can’t do this alone. By:  Tim Gustafson

Reflect & Pray

When stress hits you, where do you turn for comfort? What might you need to turn away from today?  

Father, show me the idols in my heart. Then help me destroy them and live in Your love.

My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers

Wednesday, January 18, 2023

“It Is the Lord!”

Thomas answered and said to Him, "My Lord and my God!" —John 20:28

“Jesus said to her, ‘Give Me a drink’ ” (John 4:7). How many of us are expecting Jesus Christ to quench our thirst when we should be satisfying Him! We should be pouring out our lives, investing our total beings, not drawing on Him to satisfy us. “You shall be witnesses to Me…” (Acts 1:8). That means lives of pure, uncompromising, and unrestrained devotion to the Lord Jesus, which will be satisfying to Him wherever He may send us.

Beware of anything that competes with your loyalty to Jesus Christ. The greatest competitor of true devotion to Jesus is the service we do for Him. It is easier to serve than to pour out our lives completely for Him. The goal of the call of God is His satisfaction, not simply that we should do something for Him. We are not sent to do battle for God, but to be used by God in His battles. Are we more devoted to service than we are to Jesus Christ Himself?

WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS

We all have the trick of saying—If only I were not where I am!—If only I had not got the kind of people I have to live with! If our faith or our religion does not help us in the conditions we are in, we have either a further struggle to go through, or we had better abandon that faith and religion.  The Shadow of an Agony, 1178 L

Bible in a Year: Genesis 43-45; Matthew 12:24-50

A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft

Wednesday, January 18, 2023

WHAT KEEPS CHRISTIANS TOGETHER - AND APART - #9398

There are not too many TV shows you remember many years later. But I still remember a TV documentary that was filmed during the Vietnam War. It was called "Same Mud, Same Blood." This correspondent traveled with this infantry company that was made up of mostly white soldiers from the Deep South and a few others who were African American. But the unit was commanded by an African American sergeant.

We're talking about a time when America was convulsing with civil rights conflicts, right? But the documentary told the amazing story of how a company that started out with huge racial walls between them became molded into this group of guys who would die for each other. After all, they were "same mud, same blood." There was something about being in a war together that brought people close together who might otherwise have never had anything in common.

I'm Ron Hutchcraft, and I want to have A Word With You today about "What Keeps Christians Together - and Apart."

Mission glue - that's what held that racially mixed, potentially racially divided group of soldiers together. They had a life-or-death mission that brought them together and kept them together. And so do we; those of us who belong to Jesus Christ. But take away our focus on that mission, and we're back to the little things that divide us.

We can see that portrayed in our word for today from the Word of God in Philippians 4:2-3. Paul is writing about a controversy that was ripping up the church in Philippi because two women named Euodia and Syntyche, women who had been with him in many battles for the Lord were now fighting with each other. He said, "I plead with you, Euodia, and I plead with Syntyche to agree with each other in the Lord. Yes, and I ask you, loyal yokefellows, help these women who have contended at my side in the cause of the Gospel...whose names are in the Book of Life."

So, here were two women who had once been close together, going out on spiritual combat missions with Sergeant Paul. Their differences didn't matter when they were all focused on the spiritually dying people whose lives they were fighting for in the cause of the Gospel. But somewhere along the way, they lost their focus on their eternal rescue mission. They started to focus on each other, and they fell apart. Do you know how many churches have fallen apart that way? How many ministries? How many Christian relationships?

It just seems like so many Christians...we've forgotten our mission - the people who don't yet know our Jesus, who've never had a day with a Savior, who have no hope for eternity without Him. Our focus is supposed to be outward on the lost, not inward on ourselves. When we've got our hearts and our lives full of rescuing dying people, our differences are suddenly nowhere near as important as the mission and we come together! We become an answer to our Savior's prayer for us on the eve of His crucifixion - "Lord, may they be brought to complete unity to let the world know that You sent Me" (John 17:23).

But when we stray from our life-or-death mission, we start turning on each other. We start focusing on trivial things, and getting aggravated with the differences. We fall apart because suddenly what's really big has ended up being small to us - and what's really small, ends up looking really big.

As Paul once pleaded with former warriors in the battle to come together, I believe Jesus is pleading with us to get our eyes off each other and on the people who are dying without Him all around us. It is no one other than Satan who distracts us from our rescue mission so he can keep his prisoners. It's our mission that forces us to come together, to fight our common enemy, to fight for our common Savior.

We're same blood, remember? The blood of the Son of God!

Song of Solomon 2, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals

Max Lucado Daily: REJOICE IN THE LORD’S SOVEREIGNTY - January 17, 2023

The next time you fear the future, rejoice in the Lord’s sovereignty. Rejoice in what he has accomplished. Rejoice that he is able to do what you cannot do, and fill your mind with thoughts of God.

“[He is] the Creator, who is blessed forever” (Romans 1:25 NKJV). “[He] is the same yesterday, today, and forever” (Hebrews 13:8 NKJV). He is king, supreme ruler, absolute monarch, and overlord of all history. An arch of his eyebrow and a million angels will pivot and salute. Every throne is a footstool to his. He consults no advisers. He needs no congress. He reports to no one. He is in charge.

Sovereignty gives the saint the inside track to peace. Others see the problems of the world and wring their hands. We see the problems of the world and bend our knees.

Song of Solomon 2

I’m just a wildflower picked from the plains of Sharon,

    a lotus blossom from the valley pools.

The Man

2 A lotus blossoming in a swamp of weeds—

    that’s my dear friend among the girls in the village.

The Woman

3-4 As an apricot tree stands out in the forest,

    my lover stands above the young men in town.

All I want is to sit in his shade,

    to taste and savor his delicious love.

He took me home with him for a festive meal,

    but his eyes feasted on me!

5-6 Oh! Give me something refreshing to eat—and quickly!

    Apricots, raisins—anything. I’m about to faint with love!

His left hand cradles my head,

    and his right arm encircles my waist!

7 Oh, let me warn you, sisters in Jerusalem,

    by the gazelles, yes, by all the wild deer:

Don’t excite love, don’t stir it up,

    until the time is ripe—and you’re ready.

8-10 Look! Listen! There’s my lover!

    Do you see him coming?

Vaulting the mountains,

    leaping the hills.

My lover is like a gazelle, graceful;

    like a young stag, virile.

Look at him there, on tiptoe at the gate,

    all ears, all eyes—ready!

My lover has arrived

    and he’s speaking to me!

The Man

10-14 Get up, my dear friend,

    fair and beautiful lover—come to me!

Look around you: Winter is over;

    the winter rains are over, gone!

Spring flowers are in blossom all over.

    The whole world’s a choir—and singing!

Spring warblers are filling the forest

    with sweet strains.

Lilacs are exuberantly purple and perfumed,

    and cherry trees fragrant with blossoms.

Oh, get up, dear friend,

    my fair and beautiful lover—come to me!

Come, my shy and modest dove—

    leave your seclusion, come out in the open.

Let me see your face,

    let me hear your voice.

For your voice is soothing

    and your face is ravishing.

The Woman

15 Then you must protect me from the foxes,

    foxes on the prowl,

Foxes who would like nothing better

    than to get into our flowering garden.

16-17 My lover is mine, and I am his.

    Nightly he strolls in our garden,

Delighting in the flowers

    until dawn breathes its light and night slips away.

Turn to me, dear lover.

    Come like a gazelle.

Leap like a wild stag

    on delectable mountains!

Our Daily Bread reading and devotion

Tuesday, January 17, 2023

Today's Scripture

John 11:17–27

 When Jesus finally got there, he found Lazarus already four days dead. Bethany was near Jerusalem, only a couple of miles away, and many of the Jews were visiting Martha and Mary, sympathizing with them over their brother. Martha heard Jesus was coming and went out to meet him. Mary remained in the house.

21-22 Martha said, “Master, if you’d been here, my brother wouldn’t have died. Even now, I know that whatever you ask God he will give you.”

23 Jesus said, “Your brother will be raised up.”

24 Martha replied, “I know that he will be raised up in the resurrection at the end of time.”

25-26 “You don’t have to wait for the End. I am, right now, Resurrection and Life. The one who believes in me, even though he or she dies, will live. And everyone who lives believing in me does not ultimately die at all. Do you believe this?”

27 “Yes, Master. All along I have believed that you are the Messiah, the Son of God who comes into the world.”

Insight

Jewish customs mandated a corpse be buried within twenty-four hours of death. In John 11, we’re told that Lazarus had already been in the tomb for four days when Jesus arrived (vv. 17, 39) to show the magnitude of the miracle. This wasn’t an emergency situation where a person in cardiac arrest was successfully resuscitated. Lazarus was well past the timeframe for this. Jesus had previously raised two other dead persons (Luke 7:11–17; 8:49–56), but these resurrections took place before decomposition of the bodies had begun. According to rabbinic beliefs, the spirit of the deceased hovers around the body for three days in the hope of reuniting with it. But the spirit will finally leave when the body has decomposed. This would have been the case for Lazarus: “By this time there is a bad odor, for he has been there four days” (John 11:39). By: K. T. Sim

Never Late

Your brother will rise again. John 11:23

As a visitor to a small West African town, my American pastor made sure to arrive on time for a 10 a.m. Sunday service. Inside the humble sanctuary, however, he found the room empty. So he waited. One hour. Two hours. Finally, about 12:30 p.m., when the local pastor arrived after his long walk there—followed by some choir members and a gathering of friendly town people—the service began “in the fullness of time,” as my pastor later said. “The Spirit welcomed us, and God wasn’t late.” My pastor understood the culture was different here for its own good reasons.

Time seems relative, but God’s perfect, on-time nature is affirmed throughout the Scriptures. Thus, after Lazarus got sick and died, Jesus arrived four days later, with Lazarus’ sisters asking why. “Lord,” Martha said to Jesus, “if you had been here, my brother would not have died” (John 11:21). We may think the same, wondering why God doesn’t hurry to fix our problems. Better instead to wait by faith for His answers and power.

As theologian Howard Thurman wrote, “We wait, our Father, until at last something of thy strength becomes our strength, something of thy heart becomes our heart, something of thy forgiveness becomes our forgiveness. We wait, O God, we wait.” Then, as with Lazarus, when God responds, we’re miraculously blessed by what wasn’t, after all, a delay. By:  Patricia Raybon

Reflect & Pray

What are you waiting for God to do or provide on your behalf? How can you wait by faith?

For You, Father, I wait. Grant me Your strength and faithful hope in my waiting.

My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers

Tuesday, January 17, 2023

The Call of the Natural Life

When it pleased God…to reveal His Son in me… —Galatians 1:15-16

The call of God is not a call to serve Him in any particular way. My contact with the nature of God will shape my understanding of His call and will help me realize what I truly desire to do for Him. The call of God is an expression of His nature; the service which results in my life is suited to me and is an expression of my nature. The call of the natural life was stated by the apostle Paul— “When it pleased God…to reveal His Son in me, that I might preach Him [that is, purely and solemnly express Him] among the Gentiles….”

Service is the overflow which pours from a life filled with love and devotion. But strictly speaking, there is no call to that. Service is what I bring to the relationship and is the reflection of my identification with the nature of God. Service becomes a natural part of my life. God brings me into the proper relationship with Himself so that I can understand His call, and then I serve Him on my own out of a motivation of absolute love. Service to God is the deliberate love-gift of a nature that has heard the call of God. Service is an expression of my nature, and God’s call is an expression of His nature. Therefore, when I receive His nature and hear His call, His divine voice resounds throughout His nature and mine and the two become one in service. The Son of God reveals Himself in me, and out of devotion to Him service becomes my everyday way of life.

WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS

To those who have had no agony Jesus says, “I have nothing for you; stand on your own feet, square your own shoulders. I have come for the man who knows he has a bigger handful than he can cope with, who knows there are forces he cannot touch; I will do everything for him if he will let Me. Only let a man grant he needs it, and I will do it for him.”

The Shadow of an Agony

Bible in a Year: Genesis 41-42; Matthew 12:1-23

A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft

Tuesday, January 17, 2023

THE BEAUTIFUL TRUTH ABOUT LIFE'S UGLIEST WORDS - #9397

I was there the day my son's dream died. Since he'd been little, playing big-time football had been his dream. If, as they say, biology is destiny, and him being my son, he was not destined to have a football player's size by any means. But he really worked at it, he spent hours in the gym, bulking up, practicing with focus and intensity. And honestly, he was very good at football - until the day he went down in a driving drill with a badly injured knee. He'd torn his anterior cruciate ligament - an injury dreaded by anyone in sports. One of the top sports med doctors in our area examined our son's knee - and then he said those words that sounded like a death sentence to our boy, "You'll never play football again."

I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "The Beautiful Truth About Life's Ugliest Words."

Our son's dream died that day, but God's dream for him was born. He later said, "It was really my god that died that day" - the athletic death sentence from the doctor ultimately helped our son realize that football had become his god, and he surrendered his life totally to Christ. He replaced football with learning the guitar and writing songs. Those talents helped him form a unique Native American band to reach reservation young people, and his life was set on the track he was made for: to reach Native young people for Christ.

For our son, "You'll never play football," well that was some of the ugliest words he'd ever heard. Well, I'll tell you, there are a lot of ugly words in life aren't there: cancer, divorce, fired, unemployed, broke, rejected, guilty, bankrupt, incurable, and a lot of words that sound like a death sentence at the time. But there's an amazing truth that more than balances the other side of the scale and it's displayed in our word for today from the Word of God. In a nutshell, here's the hope-giving truth about life's ugly words - the ugly word is not the final word!

In Luke 7, beginning with verse 2, we meet a Roman centurion whose highly valued servant is "sick and about to die." That centurion sends messengers to Jesus, desperately pleading for His help. Part of his message went like this: "Say the word, and my servant will be healed. For I myself am a man under authority, with soldiers under me. I tell this one, 'Go,' and he goes; and that one, 'Come,' and he comes. I say to my servant, 'Do this,' and he does it." The Bible goes on to say, "When Jesus heard this, He was amazed at him and...He said, 'I have not found such great faith even in Israel.'" Wait a minute! Jesus said this man had amazing faith. He often upbraided His disciples for their "little faith," but what was it about this soldier's faith that amazed Jesus and, by the way, brought about the miraculous healing of the servant he loved?

Well, here you go. Amazing faith is all about authority and what authority will decide the outcome in your situation. Amazing faith believes that Jesus will decide the outcome and nothing else! The disease will not decide it, the boss will not decide it, the economy will not decide it, the election will not decide it, your enemies won't decide it, the odds won't decide it, the devil won't decide it - Jesus will decide it! If He says "Go" to it, it's got to go! If He says, "Come," it's got to come! If He says, "Do this," it has to do it! Jesus, say the word!

Great faith can trigger miraculous outcomes, even when you're living one of life's ugliest words. And great faith - the kind that amazes Jesus - is faith that lives as if Jesus is going to decide it! Because, for a child of God, life's ugly words do not have the final word. Your Jesus does!

Song of Solomon 1, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals

Max Lucado Daily: DON’T GIVE UP YOUR JOY - January 16, 2023

On his thirtieth wedding anniversary, a friend shared the secret of their happy marriage. “Early on, my wife suggested that she would make all the small decisions and would come to me for all the major ones. All these years have passed, and we haven’t had one major decision.” Facetious, for sure, yet there is wisdom in acknowledging the relatively small number of major decisions in life. Don’t sweat the small stuff, and you won’t sweat much at all.

James 1:19 says, “Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry.” During the next few days you’ll be tested. Your husband is going to blow his nose like a foghorn. Your wife is going to take her half of the garage in the middle. But don’t give up your joy—or theirs—over something that’s not worth sweating.

Song of Solomon 1

The Song—best of all songs—Solomon’s song!

The Woman

2-3 Kiss me—full on the mouth!

    Yes! For your love is better than wine,

    headier than your aromatic oils.

The syllables of your name murmur like a meadow brook.

    No wonder everyone loves to say your name!

4 Take me away with you! Let’s run off together!

    An elopement with my King-Lover!

We’ll celebrate, we’ll sing,

    we’ll make great music.

Yes! For your love is better than vintage wine.

    Everyone loves you—of course! And why not?

5-6 I am weathered but still elegant,

    oh, dear sisters in Jerusalem,

Weather-darkened like Kedar desert tents,

    time-softened like Solomon’s Temple hangings.

Don’t look down on me because I’m dark,

    darkened by the sun’s harsh rays.

My brothers ridiculed me and sent me to work in the fields.

    They made me care for the face of the earth,

    but I had no time to care for my own face.

7 Tell me where you’re working

    —I love you so much—

Tell me where you’re tending your flocks,

    where you let them rest at noontime.

Why should I be the one left out,

    outside the orbit of your tender care?

The Man

8 If you can’t find me, loveliest of all women,

    it’s all right. Stay with your flocks.

Lead your lambs to good pasture.

    Stay with your shepherd neighbors.

9-11 You remind me of Pharaoh’s

    well-groomed and satiny mares.

Pendant earrings line the elegance of your cheeks;

    strands of jewels illumine the curve of your throat.

I’m making jewelry for you, gold and silver jewelry

    that will mark and accent your beauty.

The Woman

12-14 When my King-Lover lay down beside me,

    my fragrance filled the room.

His head resting between my breasts—

    the head of my lover was a sachet of sweet myrrh.

My beloved is a bouquet of wildflowers

    picked just for me from the fields of En Gedi.

The Man

15 Oh, my dear friend! You’re so beautiful!

    And your eyes so beautiful—like doves!

The Woman

16-17 And you, my dear lover—you’re so handsome!

    And the bed we share is like a forest glen.

We enjoy a canopy of cedars

    enclosed by cypresses, fragrant and green.

Our Daily Bread reading and devotion

Monday, January 16, 2023

Today's Scripture

Isaiah 58:6–12

“This is the kind of fast day I’m after:

    to break the chains of injustice,

    get rid of exploitation in the workplace,

    free the oppressed,

    cancel debts.

What I’m interested in seeing you do is:

    sharing your food with the hungry,

    inviting the homeless poor into your homes,

    putting clothes on the shivering ill-clad,

    being available to your own families.

Do this and the lights will turn on,

    and your lives will turn around at once.

Your righteousness will pave your way.

    The God of glory will secure your passage.

Then when you pray, God will answer.

    You’ll call out for help and I’ll say, ‘Here I am.’

A Full Life in the Emptiest of Places

9-12 “If you get rid of unfair practices,

    quit blaming victims,

    quit gossiping about other people’s sins,

If you are generous with the hungry

    and start giving yourselves to the down-and-out,

Your lives will begin to glow in the darkness,

    your shadowed lives will be bathed in sunlight.

I will always show you where to go.

    I’ll give you a full life in the emptiest of places—

    firm muscles, strong bones.

You’ll be like a well-watered garden,

    a gurgling spring that never runs dry.

You’ll use the old rubble of past lives to build anew,

    rebuild the foundations from out of your past.

You’ll be known as those who can fix anything,

    restore old ruins, rebuild and renovate,

    make the community livable again.

Insight

The reference to fasting in Isaiah 58:6 is God’s response to an accusation the people had made against Him. They asked, “Why have we fasted, . . . and you have not seen it?” (v. 3). They expected God to respond to their fasting, but He saw it as a lifeless formality. “You do as you please and exploit all your workers. . . . You cannot fast as you do today and expect your voice to be heard on high” (vv. 3–4). God wanted them to seek Him in true humility and to treat others fairly and compassionately—especially the needy (v. 7). By: Tim Gustafson

Be Filled

Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled. Matthew 5:6

The horrific assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. happened at the height of the American civil rights movement of the 1960s. But just four days later, his widow Coretta Scott King courageously took her husband’s place in leading a peaceful protest march. Coretta had a deep passion for justice and was a fierce champion of many causes.

Jesus said, “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled” (Matthew 5:6). We know that someday God will come to deliver justice and right every wrong, but until that time, we have the opportunity to participate in making God’s justice a reality on earth, just like Coretta did. Isaiah 58 paints a vivid picture of what God calls His people to do: loose the chains of injustice . . . set the oppressed free . . . share your food with the hungry . . . provide the poor wanderer with shelter . . . clothe [the naked], . . . and [do not] turn away [from those who need help]” (vv. 6–7). Seeking justice for the oppressed and the marginalized is one way our lives point back to God. Isaiah writes that His people seeking justice is like the light of dawn and results in healing for them as well as for others (v. 8).

Today, may God help us cultivate a hunger for His righteousness here on earth. As we seek justice His way and in His power, the Bible says we’ll be satisfied. By:  Karen Pimpo

Reflect & Pray

What’s one injustice that draws your attention? How could you take a step toward doing what’s just and right today?

Give me a hunger for justice, God. Help me be a part of Your work in doing what’s right.

My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers

Monday, January 16, 2023

The Voice of the Nature of God

I heard the voice of the Lord, saying: "Whom shall I send, and who will go for Us?" —Isaiah 6:8

When we talk about the call of God, we often forget the most important thing, namely, the nature of Him who calls. There are many things calling each of us today. Some of these calls will be answered, and others will not even be heard. The call is the expression of the nature of the One who calls, and we can only recognize the call if that same nature is in us. The call of God is the expression of God’s nature, not ours. God providentially weaves the threads of His call through our lives, and only we can distinguish them. It is the threading of God’s voice directly to us over a certain concern, and it is useless to seek another person’s opinion of it. Our dealings over the call of God should be kept exclusively between ourselves and Him.

The call of God is not a reflection of my nature; my personal desires and temperament are of no consideration. As long as I dwell on my own qualities and traits and think about what I am suited for, I will never hear the call of God. But when God brings me into the right relationship with Himself, I will be in the same condition Isaiah was. Isaiah was so attuned to God, because of the great crisis he had just endured, that the call of God penetrated his soul. The majority of us cannot hear anything but ourselves. And we cannot hear anything God says. But to be brought to the place where we can hear the call of God is to be profoundly changed.

WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS

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

Bible in a Year: Genesis 39-40; Matthew 11

A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft

Monday, January 16, 2023

NOT A LOT OF ANSWERS BUT PLENTY OF GUARANTEES - #9396

Little Mark was at that stage. He was about three years old, the son of our friends. He was cute...until he would start asking all those questions! Guess what his favorite one was? (I'll bet you'll know!) "Why? Why?"

I only see him occasionally, and the last time I saw him back then I could notice his father across the room with this amused smile. It was as if he was telling me, "Hey, it's your turn, Ron. I get this all the time. 'Why, Daddy?'" We might say to his father, "Well, he'll outgrow it." But in fact, we haven't even outgrown asking "Why?"

I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Not a Lot of Answers, But Plenty of Guarantees."

Our word for today from the Word of God. We're in the familiar words of 1 Corinthians 10:13. "No temptation..." it says. Which, by the way, in the original Greek word also means trial or testing. "No temptation (or trial, or testing) has seized you except what is common to man. And God is faithful. He will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear, but when you are tempted (or tested or tried) He will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it."

Now, I find nowhere in scripture a promise of answers to our persistent question, "Why, Daddy?" When trouble comes we say, "Why is this happening, Father?" God's tapestry is way too complex to understand with only earth eyes. I don't know what trouble or trial you might be struggling with right now, and I sure don't know why. But I do know four guarantees that God gives you in the middle of that struggle.

Number one: never past the breaking point. We just read it. He will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. He knows your limits. He'll take you to the breaking point (yeah, been there) to increase your spiritual weight-lifting strength; to increase your faith; to make you more of an emotional winner and champion. But He'll never take you past the breaking point. That's guaranteed.

Number two: never without God's signature. Look at what happened with Job. Job was suffering all kinds of things, he must have said, "Why, Daddy? Why is all this happening?" Now, we know this; the Devil had to get God's permission before he could touch Job. It's still that way today. If there's a trial in your life, it has been Father-filtered. God has signed it before it got to you. He said, "This could make you more like Jesus or I wouldn't let it come into your life." Never without God's signature.

The third guarantee: never without a hope door. It looks like there's no way out, but this says God will always provide a way out. You can't see one, but God has supernatural deliverances that you've never even thought about.

And the fourth guarantee, He guarantees never without His presence. That wonderful verse in Isaiah 43 says, "When you pass through the fire, I will be with you."

Corrie ten Boom had terrible experiences in a German concentration camp. She lost her family there. They were there because of helping to save Jews in the WWII. She said, "There is no pit so deep but God's love is deeper still." If you're a child of God who is full of questions about "why," your Father understands that. You may not get the answer to that question this side of heaven. But your Father's guaranteed: Never past the breaking point, never without His signature, never without a hope door, and never without His presence.

By the way, it might be that you've been weathering life's "why's" and storms and troubles because God is trying to get your attention, to help you get to the point where you will begin a personal relationship with Him and experiencing His love; the love that caused His Son to die on the cross for you. You could begin a relationship with Him today and never go through a dark valley alone again.

Our website is there to show you how - ANewStory.com. For He has made this promise: "I will never leave you. I will never forsake you."