Acts 27:27-44, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals

Max Lucado Daily: Doubt Storms

Sometimes I wonder…how can our world get so chaotic? And I sometimes wonder why so many hearts have to hurt? Do you ever get doubt storms? Do you have turbulent days when the enemy is too big, and the answers too few? Every so often a storm will come, and I'll look up into the blackening sky and say, "God, a little light, please?"
The light came for Jesus' disciples. A figure came to them walking on the water. It wasn't what they expected. Maybe they were listening for a divine proclamation to still the storm.  One thing is for sure, they were not looking for Jesus to come walking on the water. "It's a ghost,' they said and cried out in fear." And since Jesus came in a way they didn't expect, they almost missed seeing the answer to their prayers. And unless we look and listen closely, we risk making the same mistake!
From In the Eye of the Storm

Acts 27:27-44

On the fourteenth night, adrift somewhere on the Adriatic Sea, at about midnight the sailors sensed that we were approaching land. Sounding, they measured a depth of 120 feet, and shortly after that ninety feet. Afraid that we were about to run aground, they threw out four anchors and prayed for daylight.

30-32 Some of the sailors tried to jump ship. They let down the lifeboat, pretending they were going to set out more anchors from the bow. Paul saw through their guise and told the centurion and his soldiers, “If these sailors don’t stay with the ship, we’re all going down.” So the soldiers cut the lines to the lifeboat and let it drift off.

33-34 With dawn about to break, Paul called everyone together and proposed breakfast: “This is the fourteenth day we’ve gone without food. None of us has felt like eating! But I urge you to eat something now. You’ll need strength for the rescue ahead. You’re going to come out of this without even a scratch!”

35-38 He broke the bread, gave thanks to God, passed it around, and they all ate heartily—276 of us, all told! With the meal finished and everyone full, the ship was further lightened by dumping the grain overboard.

39-41 At daybreak, no one recognized the land—but then they did notice a bay with a nice beach. They decided to try to run the ship up on the beach. They cut the anchors, loosed the tiller, raised the sail, and ran before the wind toward the beach. But we didn’t make it. Still far from shore, we hit a reef and the ship began to break up.

42-44 The soldiers decided to kill the prisoners so none could escape by swimming, but the centurion, determined to save Paul, stopped them. He gave orders for anyone who could swim to dive in and go for it, and for the rest to grab a plank. Everyone made it to shore safely.

Our Daily Bread reading and devotion   
Saturday, August 15, 2020
Today's Scripture & Insight:

Jeremiah 31:1–9

 “At that time,” declares the Lord, “I will be the God of all the families of Israel, and they will be my people.”

2 This is what the Lord says:

“The people who survive the sword
    will find favor in the wilderness;
    I will come to give rest to Israel.”

3 The Lord appeared to us in the past,[a] saying:

“I have loved you with an everlasting love;
    I have drawn you with unfailing kindness.
4 I will build you up again,
    and you, Virgin Israel, will be rebuilt.
Again you will take up your timbrels
    and go out to dance with the joyful.
5 Again you will plant vineyards
    on the hills of Samaria;
the farmers will plant them
    and enjoy their fruit.
6 There will be a day when watchmen cry out
    on the hills of Ephraim,
‘Come, let us go up to Zion,
    to the Lord our God.’”

7 This is what the Lord says:

“Sing with joy for Jacob;
    shout for the foremost of the nations.
Make your praises heard, and say,
    ‘Lord, save your people,
    the remnant of Israel.’
8 See, I will bring them from the land of the north
    and gather them from the ends of the earth.
Among them will be the blind and the lame,
    expectant mothers and women in labor;
    a great throng will return.
9 They will come with weeping;
    they will pray as I bring them back.
I will lead them beside streams of water
    on a level path where they will not stumble,
because I am Israel’s father,
    and Ephraim is my firstborn son.

Insight
Jeremiah offers unusual comfort to survivors of the Babylonian invasion and exile (30:3, 10–11, 24; 31:1). Without offering an immediate promise of rescue, the prophet reminds them of the God who expresses everlasting love and kindness “to us” by promising to help future generations as He did for their ancestors (31:3, 17). However, he offers no expectation of immediate circumstantial relief for those whose hearts remain cold. Instead he uses the remorse of Ephraim, the father of idolatrous northern tribes, to show how the ever-present God longs to show compassion and mercy to those who are resisting Him (vv. 18–22).

Running into Love
I have loved you with an everlasting love. Jeremiah 31:3

Nora was tiny, but “Bridget”—the belligerent, six-foot-tall woman glowering down at her—didn’t intimidate her. Bridget couldn’t even say why she had stopped at the crisis pregnancy center; she’d already made up her mind to “get rid of this . . . kid.” So Nora gently asked questions, and Bridget rudely deflected them with profanity-laced tirades. Soon Bridget got up to leave, defiantly declaring her intent to end her pregnancy.

Slipping her small frame between Bridget and the door, Nora asked, “Before you go, may I give you a hug, and may I pray for you?” No one had ever hugged her before—not with healthy intentions, anyway. Suddenly, unexpectedly, the tears came.

Nora beautifully reflects the heart of our God who loved His people Israel “with an everlasting love” (Jeremiah 31:3). The people had stumbled into the hard consequences of their persistent violation of His guidelines. Yet God told them, “I have drawn you with unfailing kindness. I will build you up again” (vv. 3–4).

Bridget’s history is complex. (Many of us can relate.) Until she ran into real love that day, her belief had been that God and His followers would only condemn her. Nora showed her something different: the God who won’t ignore our sin because He loves us beyond imagination. He welcomes us with open arms. We don’t have to keep running. By:  Tim Gustafson

Reflect & Pray
What’s your perception of God? How does it line up with the God you read about in today’s Scripture reading?

Father, I so often take Your incredible love for granted. Forgive me, and help me to reflect that love to someone today.

My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Saturday, August 15, 2020
The Evidence of the New Birth
You must be born again. —John 3:7

The answer to Nicodemus’ question, “How can a man be born when he is old?” is: Only when he is willing to die to everything in his life, including his rights, his virtues, and his religion, and becomes willing to receive into himself a new life that he has never before experienced (John 3:4). This new life exhibits itself in our conscious repentance and through our unconscious holiness.

“But as many as received Him…” (John 1:12). Is my knowledge of Jesus the result of my own internal spiritual perception, or is it only what I have learned through listening to others? Is there something in my life that unites me with the Lord Jesus as my personal Savior? My spiritual history must have as its underlying foundation a personal knowledge of Jesus Christ. To be born again means that I see Jesus.

“…unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God ” (John 3:3). Am I seeking only for the evidence of God’s kingdom, or am I actually recognizing His absolute sovereign control? The new birth gives me a new power of vision by which I begin to discern God’s control. His sovereignty was there all the time, but with God being true to His nature, I could not see it until I received His very nature myself.

“Whoever has been born of God does not sin…” (1 John 3:9). Am I seeking to stop sinning or have I actually stopped? To be born of God means that I have His supernatural power to stop sinning. The Bible never asks, “Should a Christian sin?” The Bible emphatically states that a Christian must not sin. The work of the new birth is being effective in us when we do not commit sin. It is not merely that we have the power not to sin, but that we have actually stopped sinning. Yet 1 John 3:9 does not mean that we cannot sin— it simply means that if we will obey the life of God in us, that we do not have to sin.

WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS

We never enter into the Kingdom of God by having our head questions answered, but only by commitment. The Highest Good—Thy Great Redemption, 565 R

Bible in a Year: Psalms 91-93; Romans 15:1-13

Jeremiah 12 , Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals

Max Lucado Daily: LET JESUS TEACH YOU

Jesus invites, “Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest…let me teach you, because I am humble and gentle at heart, and you will find rest for your souls” (Matthew 11:28).

Do yourself a favor. Underscore, underline, and accept this invitation. Jesus says,  Let me teach you how to handle long Mondays, and cranky in-laws. Let me teach you why people fight, death comes, and forgiveness counts.

We need answers and Jesus offers them. But can we trust him? There’s only one way to know and that is to seek him out. Lift up your eyes, set your sights on Jesus. No passing glances or occasional glimpses. Search the crowded streets and shadow-casting roofs until you spot his face, then set your sights on him. You’ll find the Only One and Only!

Jeremiah 12

What Makes You Think You Can Race Against Horses?

You are right, O God, and you set things right.
    I can’t argue with that. But I do have some questions:
Why do bad people have it so good?
    Why do con artists make it big?
You planted them and they put down roots.
    They flourished and produced fruit.
They talk as if they’re old friends with you,
    but they couldn’t care less about you.
Meanwhile, you know me inside and out.
    You don’t let me get by with a thing!
Make them pay for the way they live,
    pay with their lives, like sheep marked for slaughter.
How long do we have to put up with this—
    the country depressed, the farms in ruin—
And all because of wickedness, these wicked lives?
    Even animals and birds are dying off
Because they’ll have nothing to do with God
    and think God has nothing to do with them.

5-6 “So, Jeremiah, if you’re worn out in this footrace with men,
    what makes you think you can race against horses?
And if you can’t keep your wits during times of calm,
    what’s going to happen when troubles break loose
        like the Jordan in flood?
Those closest to you, your own brothers and cousins,
    are working against you.
They’re out to get you. They’ll stop at nothing.
    Don’t trust them, especially when they’re smiling.

7-11 “I will abandon the House of Israel,
    walk away from my beloved people.
I will turn over those I most love
    to those who are her enemies.
She’s been, this one I held dear,
    like a snarling lion in the jungle,
Growling and baring her teeth at me—
    and I can’t take it anymore.
Has this one I hold dear become a preening peacock?
    But isn’t she under attack by vultures?
Then invite all the hungry animals at large,
    invite them in for a free meal!
Foreign, scavenging shepherds
    will loot and trample my fields,
Turn my beautiful, well-cared-for fields
    into vacant lots of tin cans and thistles.
They leave them littered with junk—
    a ruined land, a land in lament.
The whole countryside is a wasteland,
    and no one will really care.

12-13 “The barbarians will invade,
    swarm over hills and plains.
The judgment sword of God will take its toll
    from one end of the land to the other.
    Nothing living will be safe.
They will plant wheat and reap weeds.
    Nothing they do will work out.
They will look at their meager crops and wring their hands.
    All this the result of God’s fierce anger!”

14-17 God’s Message: “Regarding all the bad neighbors who abused the land I gave to Israel as their inheritance: I’m going to pluck them out of their lands, and then pluck Judah out from among them. Once I’ve pulled the bad neighbors out, I will relent and take them tenderly to my heart and put them back where they belong, put each of them back in their home country, on their family farms. Then if they will get serious about living my way and pray to me as well as they taught my people to pray to that god Baal, everything will go well for them. But if they won’t listen, then I’ll pull them out of their land by the roots and cart them off to the dump. Total destruction!” God’s Decree.

Our Daily Bread reading and devotion   
Friday, August 14, 2020
Today's Scripture & Insight:

Isaiah 35:1–4

Joy of the Redeemed

The desert and the parched land will be glad;
    the wilderness will rejoice and blossom.
Like the crocus, 2 it will burst into bloom;
    it will rejoice greatly and shout for joy.
The glory of Lebanon will be given to it,
    the splendor of Carmel and Sharon;
they will see the glory of the Lord,
    the splendor of our God.

3 Strengthen the feeble hands,
    steady the knees that give way;
4 say to those with fearful hearts,
    “Be strong, do not fear;
your God will come,
    he will come with vengeance;
with divine retribution
    he will come to save you.”

Insight
Isaiah 34 and 35 provide a summary of the judgment and blessing described in the first half of the book. Chapter 34 describes judgment against “all nations” (vv. 1–2), then focuses on Edom (v. 5), an enemy of Israel, which was representative of all nations. The two chapters are linked by the warning of God’s vengeance “to uphold Zion’s cause” (34:8) and to save Zion (35:4). The restoration of Israel, or Zion, is described as ultimately involving the renewal of the land and people. The desert and wilderness will blossom (v. 1), Israel will be healed (vv. 5–6), be safe (vv. 7, 9), and be filled with joy (v. 10).

Hope Blossoms
The desert and the parched land will be glad; the wilderness will rejoice and blossom. Isaiah 35:1

In the city of Philadelphia, when weedy vacant lots were cleaned up and brightened with beautiful flowers and trees, nearby residents also brightened in overall mental health. This proved especially true for those who struggled economically.

“There’s a growing body of evidence that green space can have an impact on mental health,” said Dr. Eugenia South, “and that’s particularly important for people living in poorer neighborhoods.” South, a faculty member at the University of Pennsylvania’s Perelman School of Medicine, is coauthor of a study on the subject.

The downtrodden people of Israel and Judah found fresh hope in the prophet Isaiah’s vision of their beautiful restoration by God. Amid all the doom and judgment Isaiah foretold, this bright promise took root: “The desert and the parched land will be glad; the wilderness will rejoice and blossom. Like the crocus, it will burst into bloom; it will rejoice greatly and shout for joy” (Isaiah 35:1–2).

No matter our situation today, we too can rejoice in the beautiful ways our heavenly Father restores us with fresh hope, including through His creation. When we feel down, reflecting on His glory and splendor will bolster us. “Strengthen the feeble hands, steady the knees that give way,” Isaiah encouraged (v. 3).

Can a few flowers rekindle our hope? A prophet said yes. So does our hope-giving God. By:  Patricia Raybon

Reflect & Pray
When you feel hopeless, how do you usually respond? How could spending time outdoors in God’s creation transform your despair to renewed hope in God?

Dear God, thank You for the splendor of Your creation, pointing me to Your glory, and reviving my hope in You.

For encouragement, read Hope: Choosing Faith Instead of Fear at discoveryseries.org/q0733.

My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Friday, August 14, 2020
The Discipline of the Lord

My son, do not despise the chastening of the Lord, nor be discouraged when you are rebuked by Him. —Hebrews 12:5

It is very easy to grieve the Spirit of God; we do it by despising the discipline of the Lord, or by becoming discouraged when He rebukes us. If our experience of being set apart from sin and being made holy through the process of sanctification is still very shallow, we tend to mistake the reality of God for something else. And when the Spirit of God gives us a sense of warning or restraint, we are apt to say mistakenly, “Oh, that must be from the devil.”

“Do not quench the Spirit” (1 Thessalonians 5:19), and do not despise Him when He says to you, in effect, “Don’t be blind on this point anymore— you are not as far along spiritually as you thought you were. Until now I have not been able to reveal this to you, but I’m revealing it to you right now.” When the Lord disciplines you like that, let Him have His way with you. Allow Him to put you into a right-standing relationship before God.

“…nor be discouraged when you are rebuked by Him.” We begin to pout, become irritated with God, and then say, “Oh well, I can’t help it. I prayed and things didn’t turn out right anyway. So I’m simply going to give up on everything.” Just think what would happen if we acted like this in any other area of our lives!

Am I fully prepared to allow God to grip me by His power and do a work in me that is truly worthy of Himself? Sanctification is not my idea of what I want God to do for me— sanctification is God’s idea of what He wants to do for me. But He has to get me into the state of mind and spirit where I will allow Him to sanctify me completely, whatever the cost (see 1 Thessalonians 5:23-24).

WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS

The great word of Jesus to His disciples is Abandon. When God has brought us into the relationship of disciples, we have to venture on His word; trust entirely to Him and watch that when He brings us to the venture, we take it.
Studies in the Sermon on the Mount

Bible in a Year: Psalms 89-90; Romans 14

A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Friday, August 14, 2020
Giving it to Your Guard - #8765

I was doing a little reading about the unusual man that was President when my mom was a little girl, Calvin Coolidge. Now he was a classic Vermonter, but not a classic politician. He was a man of very few words, great common sense, and very strong character. Even after his presidency he remained very popular with the American people. Now, Calvin Coolidge was remarkably cool under pressure, even that day when a letter was handed to him in Los Angeles that warned him of a plot to assassinate him. Coolidge blandly handed the note to his guard with just five simple words, "Guess this belongs to you."

I'm Ron Hutchcraft, and I want to have A Word With You today about "Giving it to Your Guard."

Our word for today from the word of God comes from 1 Peter 2:21 where God says, "Christ suffered for you leaving you an example that you should follow in His steps." Now before we read on, that word "example" means in the Greek language the alphabet that was at the top of a school child's slate. It's like, you know, you copy this if you want to do it right. It was called a copyhead.

Now, for us, that pattern is Jesus. Copy this if you want to do it right. Alright what's that? Well, this is what we're supposed to copy. "He committed no sin and no deceit was found in His mouth. When they hurled their insults at Him, He did not retaliate; when he suffered, He made no threats. Instead, He entrusted himself to Him who judges justly."

Now here's Jesus under the greatest pressure that any man has ever endured. He's carrying the redemption of the world on His shoulders, He's being insulted and spat on, beaten; humiliated by the men He created. He's suffering gross injustice, terrible indignity, agonizing pain. Now this is what we're supposed to copy. He did not retaliate, He made no threats, He committed no sin, no defending Himself against the accusations, no retaliation for the hurts. How could He possibly do that?

Well, it says what He did was He entrusted Himself to Him who judges justly. When the threats came, Jesus turned to His Father and said, "This belongs to You, Father. You take care of it." When He was treated unfairly, He handed it over to the Father and said, "This belongs to You. You take care of it." That's what we're supposed to copy.

Look at Jesus during His arrest, His trial, His torture, and His execution. The people supposedly in charge of this thing, they were the ones who were out of control. And the one who is supposed to be the victim is the strongest person in the room. He's under control because He's committed His case and His cause to the God of the universe.

Maybe you're under attack in some way right now. You're feeling that pressure, maybe you're being treated unfairly, maybe you're being accused, or you have been really wounded. As perhaps no other time in your life, you have a chance to experience and demonstrate the difference Jesus Christ makes - the One who judges justly. You don't have to waste a lot of time defending yourself. Psalm 37:6 promises that "The justice of your cause will shine like the noonday sun."

Ask God for the Jesus grace to not retaliate when the harshness is just being hurled at you. Don't answer it. Don't stoop to their level and become like them. The Bible says a soft answer turns away anger. You see you win by not having the final hurting word or by offering the great self defense, but by being the peace person in a sea of hostility; the gentle person in a sea of harshness.

That is possible only by believing that someone better than you is defending your cause, and He is. It is the living God! So when the hit comes, turn to your all-powerful Father and protector and say, "Lord, I guess this belongs to You."

Jeremiah 11, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals

Max Lucado Daily: JESUS KNOWS THE VALUE OF EVERY CREATURE

Denalyn and I have been married over 35 years. We no longer converse; we communicate in code. She walks into the kitchen while I’m making a sandwich. “Denalyn?” I ask.  “No, I don’t want one,” she says. I’ll open the refrigerator and stare for a few moments. “Denalyn?”  She’ll answer, “Mayo is on the top shelf; pickles on the door.”  She knows me better than anyone.  She is the authority on Max!

How much more does Jesus know God?  When Jesus says in Matthew 10:31, “You are worth more than many sparrows,” you can trust him.  He knows the value of every creature.  And when Jesus says, “In my Father’s house are many mansions,” you can count on it.  He knows; He has walked them. “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son that whoever believes in him shall not perish…” (John 3:16).  When Jesus speaks about God, he is the ultimate authority. Trust him!

Jeremiah 11

The Terms of This Covenant

The Message that came to Jeremiah from God:

2-4 “Preach to the people of Judah and citizens of Jerusalem. Tell them this: ‘This is God’s Message, the Message of Israel’s God to you. Anyone who does not keep the terms of this covenant is cursed. The terms are clear. I made them plain to your ancestors when I delivered them from Egypt, out of the iron furnace of suffering.

4-5 “‘Obey what I tell you. Do exactly what I command you. Your obedience will close the deal. You’ll be mine and I’ll be yours. This will provide the conditions in which I will be able to do what I promised your ancestors: to give them a fertile and lush land. And, as you know, that’s what I did.’”

“Yes, God,” I replied. “That’s true.”

6-8 God continued: “Preach all this in the towns of Judah and the streets of Jerusalem. Say, ‘Listen to the terms of this covenant and carry them out! I warned your ancestors when I delivered them from Egypt and I’ve kept up the warnings. I haven’t quit warning them for a moment. I warned them from morning to night: “Obey me or else!” But they didn’t obey. They paid no attention to me. They did whatever they wanted to do, whenever they wanted to do it, until finally I stepped in and ordered the punishments set out in the covenant, which, despite all my warnings, they had ignored.’”

9-10 Then God said, “There’s a conspiracy among the people of Judah and the citizens of Jerusalem. They’ve plotted to reenact the sins of their ancestors—the ones who disobeyed me and decided to go after other gods and worship them. Israel and Judah are in this together, mindlessly breaking the covenant I made with their ancestors.”

11-13 “Well, your God has something to say about this: Watch out! I’m about to visit doom on you, and no one will get out of it. You’re going to cry for help but I won’t listen. Then all the people in Judah and Jerusalem will start praying to the gods you’ve been sacrificing to all these years, but it won’t do a bit of good. You’ve got as many gods as you have villages, Judah! And you’ve got enough altars for sacrifices to that impotent sex god Baal to put one on every street corner in Jerusalem!”

14 “And as for you, Jeremiah, I don’t want you praying for this people. Nothing! Not a word of petition. Indeed, I’m not going to listen to a single syllable of their crisis-prayers.”

Promises and Pious Programs
15-16 “What business do the ones I love have figuring out
    how to get off the hook? And right in the house of worship!
Do you think making promises and devising pious programs
    will save you from doom?
Do you think you can get out of this
    by becoming more religious?
A mighty oak tree, majestic and glorious—
    that’s how I once described you.
But it will only take a clap of thunder and a bolt of lightning
    to leave you a shattered wreck.

17 “I, God-of-the-Angel-Armies, who planted you—yes, I have pronounced doom on you. Why? Because of the disastrous life you’ve lived, Israel and Judah alike, goading me to anger with your continuous worship and offerings to that sorry god Baal.”

18-19 God told me what was going on. That’s how I knew.
    You, God, opened my eyes to their evil scheming.
I had no idea what was going on—naive as a lamb
    being led to slaughter!
I didn’t know they had it in for me,
    didn’t know of their behind-the-scenes plots:
“Let’s get rid of the preacher.
    That will stop the sermons!
Let’s get rid of him for good.
    He won’t be remembered for long.”

20 Then I said, “God-of-the-Angel-Armies,
    you’re a fair judge.
You examine and cross-examine
    human actions and motives.
I want to see these people shown up and put down!
    I’m an open book before you. Clear my name.”

21-23 That sent a signal to God, who spoke up: “Here’s what I’ll do to the men of Anathoth who are trying to murder you, the men who say, ‘Don’t preach to us in God’s name or we’ll kill you.’ Yes, it’s God-of-the-Angel-Armies speaking. Indeed! I’ll call them to account: Their young people will die in battle, their children will die of starvation, and there will be no one left at all, none. I’m visiting the men of Anathoth with doom. Doomsday!”

Our Daily Bread reading and devotion   
Thursday, August 13, 2020
Today's Scripture & Insight:

Nehemiah 6:1–4

Further Opposition to the Rebuilding

When word came to Sanballat, Tobiah, Geshem the Arab and the rest of our enemies that I had rebuilt the wall and not a gap was left in it—though up to that time I had not set the doors in the gates— 2 Sanballat and Geshem sent me this message: “Come, let us meet together in one of the villages[a] on the plain of Ono.”

But they were scheming to harm me; 3 so I sent messengers to them with this reply: “I am carrying on a great project and cannot go down. Why should the work stop while I leave it and go down to you?” 4 Four times they sent me the same message, and each time I gave them the same answer.

Read full chapter
Footnotes
Nehemiah 6:2 Or in Kephirim

Insight
The Jewish exiles returned from Babylonian captivity in three different groups. Zerubbabel (ca. 538 bc) and Ezra (ca. 458 bc) led the first two returns. Nehemiah (ca. 444 bc) led the third return, with the sole purpose of repairing the broken walls of Jerusalem, providing much needed protection for the city (Nehemiah 1–2). This repair project was met with strong and hostile opposition (chs. 4–5). As the project neared its completion, Nehemiah’s enemies tried to distract and delay him from his task by inviting him to go to Ono for “peace talks.” To get to Ono, an obscure little village near the border of Samaria, Nehemiah would have to take a long, twenty-five-mile, fruitless journey through some very deserted and dangerous terrain. Nehemiah knew that his enemies “were scheming to harm [him]” (6:1–4). Despite the opposition, obstacles, and discouragements, however, the wall project was completed in record time—fifty-two days (v. 15).

A Great Work
“I am carrying on a great project and cannot go down. Why should the work stop while I leave it and go down to you?” Nehemiah 6:3

The security guard found and removed a piece of tape that was keeping a door from clicking shut. Later, when he checked the door, he found it had been taped again. He called the police, who arrived and arrested five burglars.

Working at the Watergate building in Washington, DC, the headquarters of a major political party in the US, the young guard had just uncovered the biggest political scandal of his lifetime simply by taking his job seriously—and doing it well.

Nehemiah began rebuilding the wall around Jerusalem—a task he took very seriously. Toward the end of the project, neighboring rivals asked him to meet with them in a nearby village. Under the guise of a friendly invitation was an insidious trap (Nehemiah 6:1–2). Yet Nehemiah’s response shows the depth of his conviction: “I am carrying on a great project and cannot go down. Why should the work stop while I leave it and go down to you?” (v. 3).

Although he certainly possessed some authority, Nehemiah may not have rated very high on the hero scale. He wasn’t a great warrior, not a poet or a prophet, not a king or a sage. He was a cupbearer-turned-contractor. Yet he believed he was doing something vital for God. May we take seriously what He’s given us to do and do it well in His power and provision. By:  Glenn Packiam

Reflect & Pray
What has God called you to do? Why is it important for you to take it seriously—seeing it as a great work?

Dear God, help me to believe that I’m doing a great work. I trust that You’ve called me to this in this season. Give me the focus to stay the course.

My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Thursday, August 13, 2020
“Do Not Quench the Spirit”
Do not quench the Spirit. —1 Thessalonians 5:19

The voice of the Spirit of God is as gentle as a summer breeze— so gentle that unless you are living in complete fellowship and oneness with God, you will never hear it. The sense of warning and restraint that the Spirit gives comes to us in the most amazingly gentle ways. And if you are not sensitive enough to detect His voice, you will quench it, and your spiritual life will be impaired. This sense of restraint will always come as a “still small voice” (1 Kings 19:12), so faint that no one except a saint of God will notice it.

Beware if in sharing your personal testimony you continually have to look back, saying, “Once, a number of years ago, I was saved.” If you have put your “hand to the plow” and are walking in the light, there is no “looking back”— the past is instilled into the present wonder of fellowship and oneness with God (Luke 9:62 ; also see 1 John 1:6-7). If you get out of the light, you become a sentimental Christian, and live only on your memories, and your testimony will have a hard metallic ring to it. Beware of trying to cover up your present refusal to “walk in the light” by recalling your past experiences when you did “walk in the light” (1 John 1:7). When-ever the Spirit gives you that sense of restraint, call a halt and make things right, or else you will go on quenching and grieving Him without even knowing it.

Suppose God brings you to a crisis and you almost endure it, but not completely. He will engineer the crisis again, but this time some of the intensity will be lost. You will have less discernment and more humiliation at having disobeyed. If you continue to grieve His Spirit, there will come a time when that crisis cannot be repeated, because you have totally quenched Him. But if you will go on through the crisis, your life will become a hymn of praise to God. Never become attached to anything that continues to hurt God. For you to be free of it, God must be allowed to hurt whatever it may be.

WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS

God engineers circumstances to see what we will do. Will we be the children of our Father in heaven, or will we go back again to the meaner, common-sense attitude? Will we stake all and stand true to Him? “Be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life.” The crown of life means I shall see that my Lord has got the victory after all, even in me.  The Highest Good—The Pilgrim’s Song Book, 530 L

Bible in a Year: Psalms 87-88; Romans 13

A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Thursday, August 13, 2020
The Best Thing God Ever Did For You - #8764

He first showed up in the 1930s. And I do not remember that firsthand! Then they made movies about him in the 21st Century. One of America's most enduring superheroes. Here's a clue from the '50s TV show about him, "Look! Up in the sky! It's a bird! It's a plane! It's...Superman!" The Superman story begins with the meltdown of the planet Krypton and the decision by one of its leaders to save his son by launching him in this small rocket he has built. Destination: Earth. In one of the movies about the guy in the red cape and the blue suit with the big letter "S," his father sees that the people of earth need some help, and he says these words: "I'm sending them my only son."

I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "The Best Thing God Ever Did For You."

Superman is just a story of course. There is, however, a Father who sent His only son to do for us what we could never do for ourselves, and that is not a story. It's history. What God did actually has the power to change your personal destiny. Because God looked down and saw your need and my need, and He said, "I'm sending them My only Son."

In the words of Romans 8:32, which is our word for today from the Word of God, "He...did not spare His own Son, but gave Him up for us all." God gave up His Son for us...for you. I remember as our son-in-law held our first grandchild in his arms for the first time. He said, "This is my son; my only son." The thought of giving up that boy was unthinkable. Why would God bid goodbye to His only Son and send Him from the glories of heaven to die with spikes in His hands and feet, suspended on a cross?

The Bible answers that question. It says, "He loved us and sent His Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins" (1 John 4:10). God gave up His Son because He loves you; He loves you that much. He sent Him to be the only sacrifice that could pay for all the things we've done against God; every dishonest thing, every dirty thing, every hurting thing, every angry thing, every selfish thing.

We have kept the God we were made by on the margins of our life and we have hijacked from Him the life that He gave us. That is punishable by separation from God, forever. But God said, "They can only be saved if their eternal death penalty is paid. And someone has to die for that." And so, His one and only Son poured out His life in exchange for yours and mine.

That's why what you do with Jesus is so critical. It literally decides where you'll spend forever. Some years ago, a noted photographer spent months taking pictures of people as they came and went from the Vietnam War Memorial in Washington. And one morning, before anyone else was there, he noticed a new remembrance at the wall. There was a picture of a soldier, a medal, a picture of Jesus, and a simple, three-word inscription. As he was focusing his lens on the scene, this elderly man came up behind him and put a hand on his shoulder and said, "Excuse me, but do you like it?" The photographer told him how impressed he was with it. The man replied, "I'm glad. I put it there." Suddenly, that little three-word inscription came to life for that photographer. It simply said, "Only one son."

God brings you to a cross where His "only one Son" gave His life for you, and He's asking you, "What do you think?" Jesus' death for you is your only hope. He's the rescuer you either grab and hold onto with total trust, or the rescuer that you ignore or push away.

You may have known about Jesus' death on the cross for a long time. You may have commemorated His death at church many times, but you've never made what He did on the cross personal for you. Has there ever been a time you said, "Jesus, I'm Yours...I'm totally Yours." If not, then you're living under the death penalty for your sins. That penalty has already been paid for you.

Maybe today you're ready to make God's one and only Son your one and only hope. Well, let me encourage you to tell Him that right now wherever you are. And then visit our website, because it's loaded with information that will help you be sure you belong to Him. That website is ANewStory.com.

When your little time on earth ends, there's really only one thing that will really matter. What did you do with God's Son?

Jeremiah 6, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals

Max Lucado Daily: GOD CLAIMS YOU

I have a feeling most people who defy and deny God do so more out of fear than conviction. For all our chest pumping and braggadocio, we’re anxious folk. We can’t see a step into the future, can’t hear the One who owns us. No wonder we try to bite the hand that feeds us. But God reaches and touches.

If he’s touching you, let him. Mark it down! God loves you, and He loves you with an unearthly love. You can’t win it by being winsome, you can’t lose it by being a loser. But you can be blind enough to resist it. Don’t, for heaven’s sake, don’t. For your sake, don’t. Others demote you. God claims you. Let the definitive voice of the universe say, “You are part of my plan.”

Jeremiah 6

A City Full of Lies

 “Run for your lives, children of Benjamin!
    Get out of Jerusalem, and now!
Give a blast on the ram’s horn in Blastville.
    Send up smoke signals from Smoketown.
Doom pours out of the north—
    massive terror!
I have likened my dear daughter Zion
    to a lovely meadow.
Well, now ‘shepherds’ from the north have discovered her
    and brought in their flocks of soldiers.
They’ve pitched camp all around her,
    and plan where they’ll ‘graze.’
And then, ‘Prepare to attack! The fight is on!
    To arms! We’ll strike at noon!
Oh, it’s too late? Day is dying?
    Evening shadows are upon us?
Well, up anyway! We’ll attack by night
    and tear apart her defenses stone by stone.’”

6-8 God-of-the-Angel-Armies gave the orders:

“Chop down her trees.
    Build a siege ramp against Jerusalem,
A city full of brutality,
    bursting with violence.
Just as a well holds a good supply of water,
    she supplies wickedness nonstop.
The streets echo the cries: ‘Violence! Rape!’
    Victims, bleeding and moaning, lie all over the place.
You’re in deep trouble, Jerusalem.
    You’ve pushed me to the limit.
You’re on the brink of being wiped out,
    being turned into a ghost town.”

9 More orders from God-of-the-Angel-Armies:

“Time’s up! Harvest the grapes for judgment.
    Salvage what’s left of Israel.
Go back over the vines.
    Pick them clean, every last grape.

Is Anybody Listening?
10-11 “I’ve got something to say. Is anybody listening?
    I’ve a warning to post. Will anyone notice?
It’s hopeless! Their ears are stuffed with wax—
    deaf as a post, blind as a bat.
It’s hopeless! They’ve tuned out God.
    They don’t want to hear from me.
But I’m bursting with the wrath of God.
    I can’t hold it in much longer.

11-12 “So dump it on the children in the streets.
    Let it loose on the gangs of youth.
For no one’s exempt: Husbands and wives will be taken,
    the old and those ready to die;
Their homes will be given away—
    all they own, even their loved ones—
When I give the signal
    against all who live in this country.”
        God’s Decree.

13-15 “Everyone’s after the dishonest dollar,
    little people and big people alike.
Prophets and priests and everyone in between
    twist words and doctor truth.
My people are broken—shattered!—
    and they put on Band-Aids,
Saying, ‘It’s not so bad. You’ll be just fine.’
    But things are not ‘just fine’!
Do you suppose they are embarrassed
    over this outrage?
No, they have no shame.
    They don’t even know how to blush.
There’s no hope for them. They’ve hit bottom
    and there’s no getting up.
As far as I’m concerned,
    they’re finished.”
        God has spoken.

Death Is on the Prowl
16-20 God’s Message yet again:

“Go stand at the crossroads and look around.
    Ask for directions to the old road,
The tried-and-true road. Then take it.
    Discover the right route for your souls.
But they said, ‘Nothing doing.
    We aren’t going that way.’
I even provided watchmen for them
    to warn them, to set off the alarm.
But the people said, ‘It’s a false alarm.
    It doesn’t concern us.’
And so I’m calling in the nations as witnesses:
    ‘Watch, witnesses, what happens to them!’
And, ‘Pay attention, Earth!
    Don’t miss these bulletins.’
I’m visiting catastrophe on this people, the end result
    of the games they’ve been playing with me.
They’ve ignored everything I’ve said,
    had nothing but contempt for my teaching.
What would I want with incense brought in from Sheba,
    rare spices from exotic places?
Your burnt sacrifices in worship give me no pleasure.
    Your religious rituals mean nothing to me.”

21 So listen to this. Here’s God’s verdict on your way of life:

“Watch out! I’m putting roadblocks and barriers
    on the road you’re taking.
They’ll send you sprawling,
    parents and children, neighbors and friends—
    and that will be the end of the lot of you.”

22-23 And listen to this verdict from God:

“Look out! An invasion from the north,
    a mighty power on the move from a faraway place:
Armed to the teeth,
    vicious and pitiless,
Booming like sea storm and thunder—tramp, tramp, tramp—
    riding hard on war horses,
In battle formation
    against you, dear Daughter Zion!”

24-25 We’ve heard the news,
    and we’re as limp as wet dishrags.
We’re paralyzed with fear.
    Terror has a death grip on our throats.
Don’t dare go outdoors!
    Don’t leave the house!
Death is on the prowl.
    Danger everywhere!

26 “Dear Daughter Zion: Dress in black.
    Blacken your face with ashes.
Weep most bitterly,
    as for an only child.
The countdown has begun . . .
    six, five, four, three . . .
    The Terror is on us!”

27-30 God gave me this task:

“I have made you the examiner of my people,
    to examine and weigh their lives.
They’re a thickheaded, hard-nosed bunch,
    rotten to the core, the lot of them.
Refining fires are cranked up to white heat,
    but the ore stays a lump, unchanged.
It’s useless to keep trying any longer.
    Nothing can refine evil out of them.
Men will give up and call them ‘slag,’
    thrown on the slag heap by me, their God.”

Our Daily Bread reading and devotion   
Wednesday, August 12, 2020
Today's Scripture & Insight:

Romans 12:9–21
Love in Action

Love must be sincere. Hate what is evil; cling to what is good. 10 Be devoted to one another in love. Honor one another above yourselves. 11 Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervor, serving the Lord. 12 Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer. 13 Share with the Lord’s people who are in need. Practice hospitality.

14 Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse. 15 Rejoice with those who rejoice; mourn with those who mourn. 16 Live in harmony with one another. Do not be proud, but be willing to associate with people of low position.[a] Do not be conceited.

17 Do not repay anyone evil for evil. Be careful to do what is right in the eyes of everyone. 18 If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone. 19 Do not take revenge, my dear friends, but leave room for God’s wrath, for it is written: “It is mine to avenge; I will repay,”[b] says the Lord. 20 On the contrary:

“If your enemy is hungry, feed him;
    if he is thirsty, give him something to drink.
In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head.”[c]

21 Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.

Read full chapter
Footnotes
Romans 12:16 Or willing to do menial work
Romans 12:19 Deut. 32:35
Romans 12:20 Prov. 25:21,22

Insight
Romans 12:9–21 is referred to as a hortatory section, meaning “to exhort” or to strongly encourage an action. This passage contains encouragement to act in specific ways and contains a variety of seemingly random instructions consisting of internal attitudes and external activities. Internal attitudes sometimes require external expression; however, external actions must have an external expression.

Internal attitudes include hating evil, being joyful in hope and patient in affliction, and not being proud. External actions express themselves in being devoted in love, honoring others, having spiritual fervor (serving), and being faithful in prayer, sharing, and hospitality. We’re exhorted to bless the persecutor, live at peace, and not take revenge on our enemies.

Living on Purpose
Whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God. 1 Corinthians 10:31

“We’re going on vacation!” my wife enthusiastically told our three-year-old grandson Austin as we pulled out of the driveway on the first leg of our trip. Little Austin looked at her thoughtfully and responded, “I’m not going on vacation. I’m going on a mission!”

We’re not sure where our grandson picked up the concept of going “on a mission,” but his comment gave me something to ponder as we drove to the airport: As I leave on this vacation and take a break for a few days, am I keeping in mind that I’m still “on a mission” to live each moment with and for God? Am I remembering to serve Him in everything I do?

The apostle Paul encouraged the believers living in Rome, the capital city of the Roman Empire, to “never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervor, serving the Lord” (Romans 12:11). His point was that our life in Jesus is meant to be lived intentionally and with enthusiasm. Even the most mundane moments gain new meaning as we look expectantly to God and live for His purposes.

As we settled into our seats on the plane, I prayed, “Lord, I’m yours. Whatever you have for me to do on this trip, please help me not to miss it.”

Every day is a mission of eternal significance with Him! By:  James Banks

Reflect & Pray
Have you ever been on a mission? How can you make life all about God?

Please give me grace to live for You, Jesus, so that I may one day hear You say, “Well done, good and faithful servant!” (Matthew 25:23).

My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Wednesday, August 12, 2020
The Theology of Resting in God
Why are you fearful, O you of little faith? —Matthew 8:26

When we are afraid, the least we can do is pray to God. But our Lord has a right to expect that those who name His name have an underlying confidence in Him. God expects His children to be so confident in Him that in any crisis they are the ones who are reliable. Yet our trust is only in God up to a certain point, then we turn back to the elementary panic-stricken prayers of those people who do not even know God. We come to our wits’ end, showing that we don’t have even the slightest amount of confidence in Him or in His sovereign control of the world. To us He seems to be asleep, and we can see nothing but giant, breaking waves on the sea ahead of us.

“…O you of little faith!” What a stinging pain must have shot through the disciples as they surely thought to themselves, “We missed the mark again!” And what a sharp pain will go through us when we suddenly realize that we could have produced complete and utter joy in the heart of Jesus by remaining absolutely confident in Him, in spite of what we were facing.

There are times when there is no storm or crisis in our lives, and we do all that is humanly possible. But it is when a crisis arises that we instantly reveal upon whom we rely. If we have been learning to worship God and to place our trust in Him, the crisis will reveal that we can go to the point of breaking, yet without breaking our confidence in Him.

We have been talking quite a lot about sanctification, but what will be the result in our lives? It will be expressed in our lives as a peaceful resting in God, which means a total oneness with Him. And this oneness will make us not only blameless in His sight, but also a profound joy to Him.

WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS

Our danger is to water down God’s word to suit ourselves. God never fits His word to suit me; He fits me to suit His word. Not Knowing Whither, 901 R

Bible in a Year: Psalms 84-86; Romans 12

A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Wednesday, August 12, 2020
Your Share of the Load - #8763

When our family got ready to leave for a trip, I usually had some pretty good help loading the car, because everybody was eager to leave. Now, when we pulled into the driveway at the end of the trip, it was a little different. All of a sudden I noticed I was carrying a lot of things and I didn't have much company. Five members in our family, but invariably when it was time to unload, I ran in the house and found... let's see, there's one on the phone, one in the bathroom, one opening the mail, one in their room, and one carrying the load. That was me. I'd be in the kitchen yelling, "Help!" as I staggered in with things hanging from both shoulders - doing my impersonation of a mule, things in my arms, my hands, my mouth, my teeth. Listen, it is frustrating to have a load to carry and nobody is there to help.

I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Your Share of the Load."

Now that you're tired of my whining, why don't we go to our word for today from the Word of God. It's in Nehemiah 1. Nehemiah is the cupbearer to the King of Persia. Many miles from the city of Jerusalem, which is torn down and has been largely leveled - it's God's Holy City. And the report comes back and here's what it says: "They said to me, 'Those who survived the exile and are back in the province are in great trouble and disgrace. The wall of Jerusalem is broken down, and its gates have been burned with fire.' Nehemiah said, 'When I heard these things I sat down and wept. For some days I mourned and fasted and prayed before the God of heaven.'"

Now, Nehemiah, with the king's permission, ends up going back to lead the rebuilding of that wall, which was actually an engineering miracle. He says in chapter 2, verse 12, "I had not told anyone yet what God had put in my heart to do." Nehemiah is basically saying here, "I heard about a need and something happened in my heart." Okay, now, let me just tell you, that's what I'm praying will happen to you today.

Nehemiah heard about a need - he took ownership of it. He started to grapple with it. He wrestled in prayer over it. And he said, "This one breaks my heart." And after he prayed, he got involved in planning to do something about it and then even in the leadership. Okay, now God is carrying a load in His heart. God's burden is for lost people. Some are in the United States, some are in Mexico, some are in Africa, some are in Europe, but they're all headed for an unspeakable eternity without His Son.

Some of the people He's burdened for are children, some are teenagers, some are homeless, hungry, senior citizens, some are in prison. Some of those lost people live in mansions, some in drug-infested urban neighborhoods, some are in garbage dumps around the world; garbage dumps that smolder forever. I couldn't begin to list the load that God's carrying on His heart, but I do know He's asking you to live some of your life for some of the people He gave His life for. He has a part of His heart that He wants to plant in your heart.

Look at Nehemiah! Nehemiah allowed this need to break his heart, and then he got involved in intensive, focused prayer for that need. God wants to put a hot spot, a passionate spot in your heart; a focused burden for some mission field or some people group, or some urgent need. He doesn't want to bear this burden alone. When we have a heavy load to carry, we expect every family member to carry part of it.

Well, God has a part of His load for you to carry. No child of God is exempt. "To whom much is given, much is required." So begin on your knees, "Lord, go ahead and break my heart for something that breaks yours." Take some ownership for one of those needs. And what will God do with your willing heart? I don't know, but He'll make your life bigger as you get beyond caring about what just concerns you. And you will have a bond with Jesus from His heart to yours. That is incredible!

Let Him share with you something that concerns Him, and you'll be in a position to really make a difference. Because God has planted passion in your heart for something that is in His heart and for people He died for.

Acts 27:1-26, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals

Max Lucado Daily: GOD CHOOSES TO LOVE

Scripture employs an artillery of terms for love, each one calibrated to reach a different target.  Consider the one Moses used with his followers in Deuteronomy 10:15, “The LORD chose your ancestors as the objects of his love.” What the Hebrews heard in their language was this: “The LORD binds himself to his people.” Binds is the word hasaq, and it speaks of a tethered love, a love attached to something or someone. Harnessed. The strap serves two functions, yanking and claiming. Like yanking your child out of trouble and, in doing so, to proclaim, “Yes, he is as wild as a banshee. But he’s mine.”

God chained himself to Israel. Because they were lovable? No. God loves Israel and the rest of us because he chooses to do so. God’s love is the love that won’t let go of the object of His love.

Acts 27:1-26

A Storm at Sea

 As soon as arrangements were complete for our sailing to Italy, Paul and a few other prisoners were placed under the supervision of a centurion named Julius, a member of an elite guard. We boarded a ship from Adramyttium that was bound for Ephesus and ports west. Aristarchus, a Macedonian from Thessalonica, went with us.

3 The next day we put in at Sidon. Julius treated Paul most decently—let him get off the ship and enjoy the hospitality of his friends there.

4-8 Out to sea again, we sailed north under the protection of the northeast shore of Cyprus because winds out of the west were against us, and then along the coast westward to the port of Myra. There the centurion found an Egyptian ship headed for Italy and transferred us on board. We ran into bad weather and found it impossible to stay on course. After much difficulty, we finally made it to the southern coast of the island of Crete and docked at Good Harbor (appropriate name!).

9-10 By this time we had lost a lot of time. We had passed the autumn equinox, so it would be stormy weather from now on through the winter, too dangerous for sailing. Paul warned, “I see only disaster ahead for cargo and ship—to say nothing of our lives!—if we put out to sea now.”

12,11 But it was not the best harbor for staying the winter. Phoenix, a few miles further on, was more suitable. The centurion set Paul’s warning aside and let the ship captain and the shipowner talk him into trying for the next harbor.

13-15 When a gentle southerly breeze came up, they weighed anchor, thinking it would be smooth sailing. But they were no sooner out to sea than a gale-force wind, the infamous nor’easter, struck. They lost all control of the ship. It was a cork in the storm.

16-17 We came under the lee of the small island named Clauda, and managed to get a lifeboat ready and reef the sails. But rocky shoals prevented us from getting close. We only managed to avoid them by throwing out drift anchors.

18-20 Next day, out on the high seas again and badly damaged now by the storm, we dumped the cargo overboard. The third day the sailors lightened the ship further by throwing off all the tackle and provisions. It had been many days since we had seen either sun or stars. Wind and waves were battering us unmercifully, and we lost all hope of rescue.

21-22 With our appetite for both food and life long gone, Paul took his place in our midst and said, “Friends, you really should have listened to me back in Crete. We could have avoided all this trouble and trial. But there’s no need to dwell on that now. From now on, things are looking up! I can assure you that there’ll not be a single drowning among us, although I can’t say as much for the ship—the ship itself is doomed.

23-26 “Last night God’s angel stood at my side, an angel of this God I serve, saying to me, ‘Don’t give up, Paul. You’re going to stand before Caesar yet—and everyone sailing with you is also going to make it.’ So, dear friends, take heart. I believe God will do exactly what he told me. But we’re going to shipwreck on some island or other.”

Our Daily Bread reading and devotion   
Tuesday, August 11, 2020
Today's Scripture & Insight:

Ruth 1:19–22

So the two women went on until they came to Bethlehem. When they arrived in Bethlehem, the whole town was stirred because of them, and the women exclaimed, “Can this be Naomi?”

20 “Don’t call me Naomi,[a]” she told them. “Call me Mara,[b] because the Almighty[c] has made my life very bitter. 21 I went away full, but the Lord has brought me back empty. Why call me Naomi? The Lord has afflicted[d] me; the Almighty has brought misfortune upon me.”

22 So Naomi returned from Moab accompanied by Ruth the Moabite, her daughter-in-law, arriving in Bethlehem as the barley harvest was beginning.

Read full chapter
Footnotes
Ruth 1:20 Naomi means pleasant.
Ruth 1:20 Mara means bitter.
Ruth 1:20 Hebrew Shaddai; also in verse 21
Ruth 1:21 Or has testified against

Insight
The Bible tells of people who were renamed to reflect their changed circumstances. The childless Abram became Abraham, meaning “father of many,” because he now would have countless descendants (Genesis 17:5). Simon was renamed Peter, meaning “Rock” after he proclaimed Jesus as God (Matthew 16:17–18). Naomi’s parents had given her a beautiful name meaning “sweetness or pleasantness.” But now, Naomi asked to be called “Mara,” meaning “bitter,” to reflect her harsh and difficult life (Ruth 1:20). As Naomi and Ruth enter Bethlehem, “the whole town was stirred because of them” (v. 19). Bethlehem was a small town (Micah 5:2), and the townsfolk would’ve remembered Naomi even after being away for more than ten years (Ruth 1:4). But their question, “Can this be Naomi?” (v. 19) suggests they barely recognized her. Perhaps her appearance had been considerably and conspicuously altered by suffering.


Named by God
“Don’t call me Naomi,” she told them. “Call me Mara, because the Almighty has made my life very bitter.” Ruth 1:20

Riptide. Batgirl. Jumpstart. These are a few names given to counselors at the summer camp our family attends every year. Created by their peers, the camp nicknames usually derive from an embarrassing incident, a funny habit, or a favorite hobby.

Nicknames aren’t limited to camp—we even find them used in the Bible. For example, Jesus dubs the apostles James and John the “sons of thunder” (Mark 3:17). It’s rare in Scripture for someone to give themselves a nickname, yet it happens when a woman named Naomi asks people to call her “Mara,” which means “bitterness” (Ruth 1:20), because both her husband and two sons had died. She felt that God had made her life bitter (v. 21).

The new name Naomi gave herself didn’t stick, however, because those devastating losses were not the end of her story. In the midst of her sorrow, God had blessed her with a loving daughter-in-law, Ruth, who eventually remarried and had a son, creating a family for Naomi again.

Although we might sometimes be tempted to give ourselves bitter nicknames, like “failure” or “unloved,” based on difficulties we’ve experienced or mistakes we’ve made, those names are not the end of our stories. We can replace those labels with the name God has given each of us, “loved one” (Romans 9:25), and look for the ways He’s providing for us in even the most challenging of times. By:  Lisa M. Samra

Reflect & Pray
Think of a nickname someone gave you. What did you like or not like about it? How does being called a beloved child of God change how you see yourself?

Heavenly Father, thank You that I’m not defined by the circumstances or experiences of my life. Thank You for calling me Your child.

My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Tuesday, August 11, 2020
This Experience Must Come
Elijah went up by a whirlwind into heaven. And Elisha…saw him no more. —2 Kings 2:11-12

It is not wrong for you to depend on your “Elijah” for as long as God gives him to you. But remember that the time will come when he must leave and will no longer be your guide and your leader, because God does not intend for him to stay. Even the thought of that causes you to say, “I cannot continue without my ‘Elijah.’ ” Yet God says you must continue.

Alone at Your “Jordan” (2 Kings 2:14). The Jordan River represents the type of separation where you have no fellowship with anyone else, and where no one else can take your responsibility from you. You now have to put to the test what you learned when you were with your “Elijah.” You have been to the Jordan over and over again with Elijah, but now you are facing it alone. There is no use in saying that you cannot go— the experience is here, and you must go. If you truly want to know whether or not God is the God your faith believes Him to be, then go through your “Jordan” alone.

Alone at Your “Jericho” (2 Kings 2:15). Jericho represents the place where you have seen your “Elijah” do great things. Yet when you come alone to your “Jericho,” you have a strong reluctance to take the initiative and trust in God, wanting, instead, for someone else to take it for you. But if you remain true to what you learned while with your “Elijah,” you will receive a sign, as Elisha did, that God is with you.

Alone at Your “Bethel” (2 Kings 2:23). At your “Bethel” you will find yourself at your wits’ end but at the beginning of God’s wisdom. When you come to your wits’ end and feel inclined to panic— don’t! Stand true to God and He will bring out His truth in a way that will make your life an expression of worship. Put into practice what you learned while with your “Elijah”— use his mantle and pray (see 2 Kings 2:13-14). Make a determination to trust in God, and do not even look for Elijah anymore.

WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS

The sympathy which is reverent with what it cannot understand is worth its weight in gold.  Baffled to Fight Better, 69 L

Bible in a Year: Psalms 81-83; Romans 11:19-36

A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Tuesday, August 11, 2020
No Such Thing As Getting Away With It - #8762

She's one of those ladies with an infectious laugh and a lot of mischief in her eyes. Recently, she painted a word picture of an incident from her childhood that left us all really laughing. She was three, her brother was four; the youngest of eleven children. One day the two youngsters were watching ice skaters on TV, and that inspired her brother to suggest that they try to ice skate in the kitchen by spreading butter across the entire kitchen floor. What a great idea! And that's what they did - laughing all the way. They were having a ball, sliding across that floor like future Olympians, until Mom walked in. They "skated" over to the corner farthest from the door as their mother headed toward them with fire in her eyes. Can you picture this? "Ain't Momma happy, ain't nobody happy!" Right? She didn't have her skates on. She fell to the floor. The kids laughed, and Mom couldn't get to them to punish them! Wrong. She went out and got a bucket of hot water and started cleaning the butter off the kitchen floor. She began at the kitchen door and steadily worked her way to the corner where two children cowered; their entire short lives were flashing before them. There was no escape.

I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "No Such Thing As Getting Away With It."

Two little kids believing they would get away with what they had done. Sure they would escape the consequences. Wrong on both counts. That is a mistaken calculation that a lot of us grown-up kids have made. We've done some things that go against how God told us to live, and it seems like we're getting away with it. We haven't been caught.

But make no mistake about it: you are heading for a serious day of reckoning. Judgment delayed is not judgment cancelled. And the longer you "get away with it," the worse the consequences are going to be. The reality about sin's consequence is laid out starkly in Galatians 6:7, our word for today from the Word of God. "Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows." The painful harvest of your sin may not come immediately, but it will come. There's no such thing as getting away with sin. God puts it this way, "Be sure that your sin will find you out" (Numbers 32:23).

There's really no such thing as "secret sin." If God knows, it's no secret. God knows, and you're caught. You can be sure He knows, and He loves you too much to let you ultimately get away with rebellion against Him; to get away with the things that eat away your soul that slowly destroy you. And the best time to turn around is right now, because the bill is getting higher every day. In God's words, "because of your stubbornness and your unrepentant heart, you are storing up wrath against yourself for the day of God's wrath" (Romans 2:5).

You don't want to die with your sin unforgiven. The Bible says, "Nothing impure will ever enter" God's heaven... "but only those," the Bible says, "whose names are written in the Lamb's book of life" (Revelation 21:27). Your name is actually entered in that book of life the moment you bring all the sin of your life to the man who died for that sin, and that's Jesus. He died on the cross to take all the punishment you deserve for that sin, so you would never have to.

When you keep your inevitable appointment with a holy God, all that's going to matter is if your sins have been forgiven. And they can only be forgiven if you've put your total trust in Jesus as your personal Savior from your personal sin. You need your name in that book of life, and only Jesus can write it there.

With eternity just one heartbeat away, Jesus is extending His nail-scarred hand to you today. You need to grab His hand. You can do that by telling Him with all your heart, "Jesus, I acknowledge my sin. I want to turn from my sin. My only hope is Your death for my sin. I'm all Yours, beginning today."

And you can do that because He's alive, since He walked out of his grave on Resurrection Day. You go to our website today and you will find a simple explanation of how to be sure you belong to Jesus. That website - ANewStory.com.

The day that He died, Jesus said, "Father, forgive them." Today He stands ready to say that for you. And your sins at that moment will be gone from God's book forever.

Jeremiah 5, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals

Max Lucado Daily: GOD’S LOVE NEVER LEAVES

George Matheson was a teenager when doctors told him he was going blind. He graduated from the University of Glasgow in 1861. By the time he finished graduate seminary studies, he was sightless. His fiancée returned his engagement ring with a note: “I cannot see my way clear to go through life bound by the chains of marriage to a blind man.”

Matheson adapted to his sightless world but never quite recovered from his broken heart. He became a powerful and poetic pastor, led a full and inspiring life, turning to the unending love of God for comfort. And he penned these words: “O love that will not let me go, I rest my weary soul in thee; and I give thee back the life I owe, that in thine ocean depths its flow may richer fuller be.” The love of people may come and go, but God’s love? It never leaves.

Jeremiah 5

Sins Are Piled Sky-High

“Patrol Jerusalem’s streets.
    Look around. Take note.
Search the market squares.
    See if you can find one man, one woman,
A single soul who does what is right
    and tries to live a true life.
    I want to forgive that person.”
        God’s Decree.
“But if all they do is say, ‘As sure as God lives . . .’
    they’re nothing but a bunch of liars.”

3-6 But you, God,
    you have an eye for truth, don’t you?
You hit them hard, but it didn’t faze them.
    You disciplined them, but they refused correction.
Hardheaded, harder than rock,
    they wouldn’t change.
Then I said to myself, “Well, these are just poor people.
    They don’t know any better.
They were never taught anything about God.
    They never went to prayer meetings.
I’ll find some people from the best families.
    I’ll talk to them.
They’ll know what’s going on, the way God works.
    They’ll know the score.”
But they were no better! Rebels all!
    Off doing their own thing.
The invaders are ready to pounce and kill,
    like a mountain lion, a wilderness wolf,
Panthers on the prowl.
    The streets aren’t safe anymore.
And why? Because the people’s sins are piled sky-high;
    their betrayals are past counting.

7-9 “Why should I even bother with you any longer?
    Your children wander off, leaving me,
Taking up with gods
    that aren’t even gods.
I satisfied their deepest needs, and then they went off with the ‘sacred’ whores,
    left me for orgies in sex shrines!
A bunch of well-groomed, lusty stallions,
    each one pawing and snorting for his neighbor’s wife.
Do you think I’m going to stand around and do nothing?”
    God’s Decree.
“Don’t you think I’ll take serious measures
    against a people like this?

Eyes That Don’t Really Look, Ears That Don’t Really Listen
10-11 “Go down the rows of vineyards and rip out the vines,
    but not all of them. Leave a few.
Prune back those vines!
    That growth didn’t come from God!
They’ve betrayed me over and over again,
    Judah and Israel both.”
        God’s Decree.

12-13 “They’ve spread lies about God.
    They’ve said, ‘There’s nothing to him.
Nothing bad will happen to us,
    neither famine nor war will come our way.
The prophets are all windbags.
    They speak nothing but nonsense.’”

14 Therefore, this is what God said to me, God-of-the-Angel-Armies:

“Because they have talked this way,
    they are going to eat those words.
Watch now! I’m putting my words
    as fire in your mouth.
And the people are a pile of kindling
    ready to go up in flames.

15-17 “Attention! I’m bringing a far-off nation
    against you, O house of Israel.”
        God’s Decree.
“A solid nation,
    an ancient nation,
A nation that speaks another language.
    You won’t understand a word they say.
When they aim their arrows, you’re as good as dead.
    They’re a nation of real fighters!
They’ll clean you out of house and home,
    rob you of crops and children alike.
They’ll feast on your sheep and cattle,
    strip your vines and fig trees.
And the fortresses that made you feel so safe—
    leveled with a stroke of the sword!

18-19 “Even then, as bad as it will be”—God’s Decree!—“it will not be the end of the world for you. And when people ask, ‘Why did our God do all this to us?’ you must say to them, ‘It’s tit for tat. Just as you left me and served foreign gods in your own country, so now you must serve foreigners in their own country.’

20-25 “Tell the house of Jacob this,
    put out this bulletin in Judah:
Listen to this,
    you scatterbrains, airheads,
With eyes that see but don’t really look,
    and ears that hear but don’t really listen.
Why don’t you honor me?
    Why aren’t you in awe before me?
Yes, me, who made the shorelines
    to contain the ocean waters.
I drew a line in the sand
    that cannot be crossed.
Waves roll in but cannot get through;
    breakers crash but that’s the end of them.
But this people—what a people!
    Uncontrollable, untameable runaways.
It never occurs to them to say,
    ‘How can we honor our God with our lives,
The God who gives rain in both spring and autumn
    and maintains the rhythm of the seasons,
Who sets aside time each year for harvest
    and keeps everything running smoothly for us?’
Of course you don’t! Your bad behavior blinds you to all this.
    Your sins keep my blessings at a distance.

To Stand for Nothing and Stand Up for No One
26-29 “My people are infiltrated by wicked men,
    unscrupulous men on the hunt.
They set traps for the unsuspecting.
    Their victims are innocent men and women.
Their houses are stuffed with ill-gotten gain,
    like a hunter’s bag full of birds.
Pretentious and powerful and rich,
    hugely obese, oily with rolls of fat.
Worse, they have no conscience.
    Right and wrong mean nothing to them.
They stand for nothing, stand up for no one,
    throw orphans to the wolves, exploit the poor.
Do you think I’ll stand by and do nothing about this?”
    God’s Decree.
“Don’t you think I’ll take serious measures
    against a people like this?

30-31 “Unspeakable! Sickening!
    What’s happened in this country?
Prophets preach lies
    and priests hire on as their assistants.
And my people love it. They eat it up!
    But what will you do when it’s time to pick up the pieces?”

Our Daily Bread reading and devotion   
Monday, August 10, 2020
Today's Scripture & Insight:

1 Peter 2:4–10

The Living Stone and a Chosen People

 As you come to him, the living Stone—rejected by humans but chosen by God and precious to him— 5 you also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house[a] to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. 6 For in Scripture it says:

“See, I lay a stone in Zion,
    a chosen and precious cornerstone,
and the one who trusts in him
    will never be put to shame.”[b]

7 Now to you who believe, this stone is precious. But to those who do not believe,

“The stone the builders rejected
    has become the cornerstone,”[c]

8 and,

“A stone that causes people to stumble
    and a rock that makes them fall.”[d]

They stumble because they disobey the message—which is also what they were destined for.

9 But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. 10 Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.

Read full chapter
Footnotes
1 Peter 2:5 Or into a temple of the Spirit
1 Peter 2:6 Isaiah 28:16
1 Peter 2:7 Psalm 118:22
1 Peter 2:8 Isaiah 8:14

Insight
Peter wrote this letter to an audience experiencing difficulty because of persecution and in need of encouragement. His solution? To remind them of their identity as believers in Jesus.

Pulling from two passages in the Old Testament, Peter uses several phrases to describe the new identity of those who once “were not a people” (1 Peter 2:10). From Exodus 19:6, a passage that precedes the receiving of the Ten Commandments, Peter tells his readers that they’re “a royal priesthood” and a “holy nation” (1 Peter 2:9). From Isaiah 43:20–21, he tells them they’re a “chosen people” to “declare [God’s] praises” (1 Peter 2:9). Peter reminds his readers, and us, that like Israel who preceded them, they’re the special possession of God through His redemptive act.

On the Bubble
You are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you . . . into his wonderful light. 1 Peter 2:9

A news article in May 1970 contained one of the first uses of the idiom “on the bubble.” Referring to a state of uncertainty, the expression was used in relation to rookie race car driver Steve Krisiloff. He’d been “on the bubble,” having posted a slow qualifying lap for the Indianapolis 500. Later, it was confirmed that his time—though the slowest of those who qualified—allowed him to compete in the race.

We can feel at times that we’re “on the bubble,” uncertain we have what it takes to compete in or finish the race of life. When we’re feeling that way, it’s important to remember that in Jesus we’re never “on the bubble.” As children of God, our place in His kingdom is secure (John 14:3). Our confidence flows from Him who chose Jesus to be the “cornerstone” on which our lives are built, and He chose us to be “living stones” filled with the Spirit of God, capable of being the people God created us to be (1 Peter 2:5–6).

In Christ, our future is secure as we hope in and follow Him (v. 6). For “[we] are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that [we] may declare the praises of him who called [us] out of darkness into his wonderful light” (v. 9).

In Jesus’ eyes we’re not “on the bubble.” We’re precious and loved (v. 4). By:  Ruth O’Reilly-Smith

Reflect & Pray
In what areas of life have you found yourself “on the bubble” and struggling with uncertainty? What can you do to regain your confidence in Jesus?

Father God, when disappointments threaten to undermine my identity as Your child, remind me to put my hope and confidence in You alone.

My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Monday, August 10, 2020
The Holy Suffering of the Saint
Let those who suffer according to the will of God commit their souls to Him in doing good… —1 Peter 4:19

Choosing to suffer means that there must be something wrong with you, but choosing God’s will— even if it means you will suffer— is something very different. No normal, healthy saint ever chooses suffering; he simply chooses God’s will, just as Jesus did, whether it means suffering or not. And no saint should ever dare to interfere with the lesson of suffering being taught in another saint’s life.

The saint who satisfies the heart of Jesus will make other saints strong and mature for God. But the people used to strengthen us are never those who sympathize with us; in fact, we are hindered by those who give us their sympathy, because sympathy only serves to weaken us. No one better understands a saint than the saint who is as close and as intimate with Jesus as possible. If we accept the sympathy of another saint, our spontaneous feeling is, “God is dealing too harshly with me and making my life too difficult.” That is why Jesus said that self-pity was of the devil (see Matthew 16:21-23). We must be merciful to God’s reputation. It is easy for us to tarnish God’s character because He never argues back; He never tries to defend or vindicate Himself. Beware of thinking that Jesus needed sympathy during His life on earth. He refused the sympathy of people because in His great wisdom He knew that no one on earth understood His purpose (see Matthew 16:23). He accepted only the sympathy of His Father and the angels (see Luke 15:10).

Look at God’s incredible waste of His saints, according to the world’s judgment. God seems to plant His saints in the most useless places. And then we say, “God intends for me to be here because I am so useful to Him.” Yet Jesus never measured His life by how or where He was of the greatest use. God places His saints where they will bring the most glory to Him, and we are totally incapable of judging where that may be.

WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS

God engineers circumstances to see what we will do. Will we be the children of our Father in heaven, or will we go back again to the meaner, common-sense attitude? Will we stake all and stand true to Him? “Be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life.” The crown of life means I shall see that my Lord has got the victory after all, even in me.  The Highest Good—The Pilgrim’s Song Book, 530 L

Bible in a Year: Psalms 79-80; Romans 11:1-18

A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Monday, August 10, 2020
Taking Care of the Consequences - #8761

Our grandson was really concerned about me. Grandma was at his house, taking care of him while Mom and Dad were gone, and I wasn't able to be there. Grandma was lying in bed with our little guy, trying to help him get to sleep. But he had some questions first. "Are you going to stay at our house all night?" Well, Grandma assured him she was. "But who's at home with Granddad?" Grandma assured him I was there alone, but that I could handle it. "But isn't Granddad going to be lonely?" Again, Grandma told our grandson that I would be okay. And finally he thought of some childlike theology that allowed him to go to sleep that night. He said, "I know. Jesus will take care of him." And I can assure you He did!

I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Taking Care of the Consequences."

I think a lot of us could get to sleep a little more easily if we could rest our worries right where our grandson rested his, "Jesus will take care of it." That might be a childlike theology, but it's the secret to some grownup peace of mind.

I love the simplicity and the depth of a Bible verse that has only eight words in it, but those eight words say volumes. It's one of my anchor verses. It's Psalm 4:5, our word for today from the Word of God. It simply says, "Offer right sacrifices and trust in the Lord." In other words, do what you believe God wants you to do, whatever it may cost and then trust Him for whatever consequences may come from your obeying Him.

So many people hesitate to do what God is telling them to do because they're worried about all the "mights," and the "coulds" and the "what ifs" that may happen as a result. It's like we answer God's leading with our list of what I call "yeah buts." "Yeah, but this might happen; yeah, but what if I don't get a good response; yeah, but what if the money doesn't come through; yeah, but what if there's a bad fallout from me doing what You want?" Do you know how many people have missed God's plan for their life because of the "yeah buts," their fears about the backlash, the risks, the bad reaction?

In fact, it could be you're holding back on doing something God wants you to do right now because of your fear of the consequences. Well, here is the liberating truth of the Word of God: the consequences of obeying God are God's responsibility! You offer right sacrifices, then you trust God for whatever happens after that. God's ancient people stood on the threshold of a glorious Promised Land that God was ready to give them, but they refused to go there because they feared all the bad things that might happen. So for 40 long years, they got wilderness instead of Promised Land!

Peter got it right when he was wondering if he should step out of that storm-tossed boat and walk on the water with Jesus. He simply said, "Lord, if it's You, I will." That's really the only thing you need to worry about, "Lord, if it's You..." If it's Jesus asking you to do this, go for it. The consequences, the unanswered questions, the resources that you have no idea where you're going to find, that's all up to Him. It's your job to obey.

That's why the old hymn bottom-lines it this way, "Trust and obey, for there's no other way to be happy in Jesus, but to trust and obey." My grandson knew the answer: when you're worried about things, "Jesus will take care of it."

Jeremiah 4, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals

Max Lucado Daily: We’re Made Whole

Sin sees the world with no God in it! Where we might think of sin as slip-ups or missteps, God views sin as a godless attitude that leads to godless actions.

Isaiah 53:6 says, “All of us have strayed away like sheep. We have left God’s paths to follow our own.”  Sin proclaims, “It’s your life, right?  Pump your body with drugs, your mind with greed, your nights with pleasure.”  The godless life is a a me-dominated, childish life, a life of doing what we feel like doing, whenever we feel like doing it.

God says to love.  I choose to hate. God instructs, forgive.  I opt to get even.  God calls for self-control.  I promote self-indulgence.  This is sin.

Jesus took the punishment for that sin, and made us whole. God has piled all our sins, everything we’ve done wrong on him.

Trust his work for you, then trust His work in you.

From Come Thirsty

Jeremiah 4

“If you want to come back, O Israel,
    you must really come back to me.
You must get rid of your stinking sin paraphernalia
    and not wander away from me anymore.
Then you can say words like, ‘As God lives . . .’
    and have them mean something true and just and right.
And the godless nations will get caught up in the blessing
    and find something in Israel to write home about.”

3-4 Here’s another Message from God
    to the people of Judah and Jerusalem:
“Plow your unplowed fields,
    but then don’t plant weeds in the soil!
Yes, circumcise your lives for God’s sake.
    Plow your unplowed hearts,
    all you people of Judah and Jerusalem.
Prevent fire—the fire of my anger—
    for once it starts it can’t be put out.
Your wicked ways
    are fuel for the fire.

God’s Sledgehammer Anger
5-8 “Sound the alarm in Judah,
    broadcast the news in Jerusalem.
Say, ‘Blow the ram’s horn trumpet through the land!’
    Shout out—a bullhorn bellow!—
‘Close ranks!
    Run for your lives to the shelters!’
Send up a flare warning Zion:
    ‘Not a minute to lose! Don’t sit on your hands!’
Disaster’s descending from the north. I set it off!
    When it lands, it will shake the foundations.
Invaders have pounced like a lion from its cover,
    ready to rip nations to shreds,
Leaving your land in wrack and ruin,
    your cities in rubble, abandoned.
Dress in funereal black.
    Weep and wail,
For God’s sledgehammer anger
    has slammed into us head-on.

9 “When this happens”
    —God’s Decree—
“King and princes will lose heart;
    priests will be baffled and prophets stand dumbfounded.”

10 Then I said, “Alas, Master God!
    You’ve fed lies to this people, this Jerusalem.
You assured them, ‘All is well, don’t worry,’
    at the very moment when the sword was at their throats.”

11-12 At that time, this people, yes, this very Jerusalem,
    will be told in plain words:
“The northern hordes are sweeping in
    from the desert steppes—
A wind that’s up to no good, a gale-force wind.
    I ordered this wind.
I’m pronouncing
    my hurricane judgment on my people.”

Your Evil Life Is Piercing Your Heart
13-14 Look at them! Like banks of storm clouds,
    racing, tumbling, their chariots a tornado,
Their horses faster than eagles!
    Woe to us! We’re done for!
Jerusalem! Scrub the evil from your lives
    so you’ll be fit for salvation.
How much longer will you harbor
    devious and malignant designs within you?

15-17 What’s this? A messenger from Dan?
    Bad news from Ephraim’s hills!
Make the report public.
    Broadcast the news to Jerusalem:
“Invaders from far off are
    raising war cries against Judah’s towns.
They’re all over her, like a dog on a bone.
    And why? Because she rebelled against me.”
        God’s Decree.

18 “It’s the way you’ve lived
    that’s brought all this on you.
The bitter taste is from your evil life.
    That’s what’s piercing your heart.”

19-21 I’m doubled up with cramps in my belly—
    a poker burns in my gut.
My insides are tearing me up,
    never a moment’s peace.
The ram’s horn trumpet blast rings in my ears,
    the signal for all-out war.
Disaster hard on the heels of disaster,
    the whole country in ruins!
In one stroke my home is destroyed,
    the walls flattened in the blink of an eye.
How long do I have to look at the warning flares,
    listen to the siren of danger?

Experts at Evil
22 “What fools my people are!
    They have no idea who I am.
A company of half-wits,
    dopes and donkeys all!
Experts at evil
    but klutzes at good.”

23-26 I looked at the earth—
    it was back to pre-Genesis chaos and emptiness.
I looked at the skies,
    and not a star to be seen.
I looked at the mountains—
    they were trembling like aspen leaves,
And all the hills
    rocking back and forth in the wind.
I looked—what’s this! Not a man or woman in sight,
    and not a bird to be seen in the skies.
I looked—this can’t be! Every garden and orchard shriveled up.
    All the towns were ghost towns.
And all this because of God,
    because of the blazing anger of God.

27-28 Yes, this is God’s Word on the matter:

“The whole country will be laid waste—
    still it won’t be the end of the world.
The earth will mourn
    and the skies lament
Because I’ve given my word and won’t take it back.
    I’ve decided and won’t change my mind.”

You’re Not Going to Seduce Anyone
29 Someone shouts, “Horsemen and archers!”
    and everybody runs for cover.
They hide in ditches,
    they climb into caves.
The cities are emptied,
    not a person left anywhere.

30-31 And you, what do you think you’re up to?
    Dressing up in party clothes,
Decking yourselves out in jewelry,
    putting on lipstick and rouge and mascara!
Your primping goes for nothing.
    You’re not going to seduce anyone. They’re out to kill you!
And what’s that I hear? The cry of a woman in labor,
    the screams of a mother giving birth to her firstborn.
It’s the cry of Daughter Zion, gasping for breath,
    reaching out for help:
“Help, oh help me! I’m dying!
    The killers are on me!”

Our Daily Bread reading and devotion   
Sunday, August 09, 2020
Today's Scripture & Insight:

1 John 1:1–8

The Word Became Flesh

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was with God in the beginning. 3 Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. 4 In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. 5 The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome[a] it.

6 There was a man sent from God whose name was John. 7 He came as a witness to testify concerning that light, so that through him all might believe. 8 He himself was not the light; he came only as a witness to the light.

Read full chapter
Footnotes
John 1:5 Or understood

Insight
Who was John, the writer of this letter? He not only authored the three letters of John, but he also wrote the gospel of John and the book of Revelation. Like the brothers Simon Peter and Andrew, John and his brother James were fishermen (Matthew 4:21) who became part of the twelve chosen followers of Jesus (Mark 3:16–19). Within that group, John was one of the three who had a close relationship with Jesus (Mark 5:37; 9:2; 14:33). He refers to himself as “the disciple whom Jesus loved” (John 13:23), and love becomes a central theme throughout his gospel and letters. It appears that he alone of the disciples stood by the cross (19:26), and he and Peter entered the tomb first (20:8).

Time-Traveling Letters
The life appeared; we have seen it and testify to it, and we proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and has appeared to us. 1 John 1:2

More than a million young people take part in the International Letter-Writing Competition each year. In 2018, the theme of the competition was this: “Imagine you are a letter traveling through time. What message do you want to convey to your readers?”

In the Bible, we have a collection of letters that—thanks to the inspiration and guidance of the Holy Spirit—have made their way through time to us. As the Christian church grew, Jesus’ disciples wrote to local churches across Europe and Asia Minor to help the people understand their new life in Christ; many of those letters were collected in the Bible we read today.

What did these letter-writers want to convey to readers? John explains, in his first letter, that he’s writing about “that which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked at and our hands have touched.” He’s writing about his encounter with the living Christ (1 John 1:1). He writes so that his readers may “have fellowship with” one another, and with “the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ” (v. 3). When we have fellowship together, he writes, our joy will be complete (v. 4). The letters in the Bible draw us into a fellowship that’s beyond time—fellowship with the eternal God. By:  Amy Peterson

Reflect & Pray
If God wrote a letter to you today, what would it say? If you wrote a letter to a friend telling about how you’ve encountered the living God, what would it say?

Thank You, Father, for the fellowship I have with You.

My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Sunday, August 09, 2020
Prayer in the Father’s Hearing
Jesus lifted up His eyes and said, "Father, I thank You that You have heard Me." —John 11:41

When the Son of God prays, He is mindful and consciously aware of only His Father. God always hears the prayers of His Son, and if the Son of God has been formed in me (see Galatians 4:19) the Father will always hear my prayers. But I must see to it that the Son of God is exhibited in my human flesh. “…your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit…” (1 Corinthians 6:19), that is, your body is the Bethlehem of God’s Son. Is the Son of God being given His opportunity to work in me? Is the direct simplicity of His life being worked out in me exactly as it was worked out in His life while here on earth? When I come into contact with the everyday occurrences of life as an ordinary human being, is the prayer of God’s eternal Son to His Father being prayed in me? Jesus says, “In that day you will ask in My name…” (John 16:26). What day does He mean? He is referring to the day when the Holy Spirit has come to me and made me one with my Lord.

Is the Lord Jesus Christ being abundantly satisfied by your life, or are you exhibiting a walk of spiritual pride before Him? Never let your common sense become so prominent and forceful that it pushes the Son of God to one side. Common sense is a gift that God gave to our human nature— but common sense is not the gift of His Son. Supernatural sense is the gift of His Son, and we should never put our common sense on the throne. The Son always recognizes and identifies with the Father, but common sense has never yet done so and never will. Our ordinary abilities will never worship God unless they are transformed by the indwelling Son of God. We must make sure that our human flesh is kept in perfect submission to Him, allowing Him to work through it moment by moment. Are we living at such a level of human dependence upon Jesus Christ that His life is being exhibited moment by moment in us?

WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS

There is no allowance whatever in the New Testament for the man who says he is saved by grace but who does not produce the graceful goods. Jesus Christ by His Redemption can make our actual life in keeping with our religious profession. Studies in the Sermon on the Mount, 1465 R

Bible in a Year: Psalms 77-78; Romans 10