2 Chronicles 36, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals

Max Lucado Daily: WAS BLIND, BUT NOW I SEE

Christians love to sing the hymn,  Amazing grace!  How sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me!  I once was lost, but now am found; was blind, but now I see.  Blind, blind to the promise of eternal life, blind to the provider of life.  We relate to the words of the was-blind beggar, “One thing I do know.  I was blind but now I see!” (John 9:25).

His story is our story.  Perhaps that’s why John was in no hurry to tell it. He needed only twelve verses to describe how water became wine.  But he dedicated a whopping forty-one verses to depicting how Jesus found, cured, and matured the blind man.  Now why?  Among the explanations is this one.  What Jesus did physically for the blind beggar, he desires to do spiritually for all people— to restore our sight.  Remember, friends, you are never alone.

2 Chronicles 36

 By popular choice, Jehoahaz son of Josiah was made king at Jerusalem, succeeding his father.

King Jehoahaz
36 2-3 Jehoahaz was twenty-three years old when he began to rule. He was king in Jerusalem for a mere three months. The king of Egypt dethroned him and forced the country to pay him nearly four tons of silver and seventy-five pounds of gold.

King Jehoiakim
4 Neco king of Egypt then made Eliakim, Jehoahaz’s brother, king of Judah and Jerusalem, but changed his name to Jehoiakim; then he took Jehoahaz back with him to Egypt.

5 Jehoiakim was twenty-five years old when he began to rule; he was king for eleven years in Jerusalem. In God’s opinion he was an evil king.

6-7 Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon made war against him, and bound him in bronze chains, intending to take him prisoner to Babylon. Nebuchadnezzar also took things from The Temple of God to Babylon and put them in his royal palace.

8 The rest of the history of Jehoiakim, the outrageous sacrilege he committed and what happened to him as a consequence, is all written in the Royal Annals of the Kings of Israel and Judah.

Jehoiachin his son became the next king.

King Jehoiachin
9-10 Jehoiachin was eighteen years old when he became king. But he ruled for only three months and ten days in Jerusalem. In God’s opinion he was an evil king. In the spring King Nebuchadnezzar ordered him brought to Babylon along with the valuables remaining in The Temple of God. Then he made his uncle Zedekiah a puppet king over Judah and Jerusalem.

King Zedekiah
11-13 Zedekiah was twenty-one years old when he started out as king. He was king in Jerusalem for eleven years. As far as God was concerned, he was just one more evil king; there wasn’t a trace of contrition in him when the prophet Jeremiah preached God’s word to him. Then he compounded his troubles by rebelling against King Nebuchadnezzar, who earlier had made him swear in God’s name that he would be loyal. He became set in his own stubborn ways—he never gave God a thought; repentance never entered his mind.

14 The evil mindset spread to the leaders and priests and filtered down to the people—it kicked off an epidemic of evil, repeating the abominations of the pagans and polluting The Temple of God so recently consecrated in Jerusalem.

15-17 God, the God of their ancestors, repeatedly sent warning messages to them. Out of compassion for both his people and his Temple he wanted to give them every chance possible. But they wouldn’t listen; they poked fun at God’s messengers, despised the message itself, and in general treated the prophets like idiots. God became more and more angry until there was no turning back—God called in Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, who came and killed indiscriminately—and right in The Temple itself; it was a ruthless massacre: young men and virgins, the elderly and weak—they were all the same to him.

18-20 And then he plundered The Temple of everything valuable, cleaned it out completely; he emptied the treasuries of The Temple of God, the treasuries of the king and his officials, and hauled it all, people and possessions, off to Babylon. He burned The Temple of God to the ground, knocked down the wall of Jerusalem, and set fire to all the buildings—everything valuable was burned up. Any survivor was taken prisoner into exile in Babylon and made a slave to Nebuchadnezzar and his family. The exile and slavery lasted until the kingdom of Persia took over.

21 This is exactly the message of God that Jeremiah had preached: the desolate land put to an extended sabbath rest, a seventy-year Sabbath rest making up for all the unkept Sabbaths.

King Cyrus
22-23 In the first year of Cyrus king of Persia—this fulfilled the message of God preached by Jeremiah—God moved Cyrus king of Persia to make an official announcement throughout his kingdom; he wrote it out as follows: “From Cyrus king of Persia a proclamation: God, the God of the heavens, has given me all the kingdoms of the earth. He has also assigned me to build him a Temple of worship at Jerusalem in Judah. All who belong to God’s people are urged to return—and may your God be with you! Move forward!”

Our Daily Bread reading and devotion    
Friday, October 23, 2020
Today's Scripture & Insight:
Psalm 136:10–26

to him who struck down the firstborn of Egypt
His love endures forever.
11 and brought Israel out from among them
His love endures forever.
12 with a mighty hand and outstretched arm;
His love endures forever.

13 to him who divided the Red Sea[a] asunder
His love endures forever.
14 and brought Israel through the midst of it,
His love endures forever.
15 but swept Pharaoh and his army into the Red Sea;
His love endures forever.

16 to him who led his people through the wilderness;
His love endures forever.

17 to him who struck down great kings,
His love endures forever.
18 and killed mighty kings—
His love endures forever.
19 Sihon king of the Amorites
His love endures forever.
20 and Og king of Bashan—
His love endures forever.
21 and gave their land as an inheritance,
His love endures forever.
22 an inheritance to his servant Israel.
His love endures forever.

23 He remembered us in our low estate
His love endures forever.
24 and freed us from our enemies.
His love endures forever.
25 He gives food to every creature.
His love endures forever.

26 Give thanks to the God of heaven.
His love endures forever.

Insight
Psalms 135 and 136 share several similarities. Both praise God for His amazing creation (135:6–7; 136:4–9). Both outline God’s role in preserving His people when the Israelites escaped slavery in Egypt (135:8–9; 136:10–15). And both recall Israel entering the Promised Land and God’s hand in eradicating the pagan kings who opposed the Hebrews (135:10–12; 136:17–22). The overarching theme of these psalms is that God alone is the one true God (135:5, 13; 136:1–3, 26), and He alone merits our praise.

Psalm 136 is antiphonal; that is, part of the congregation was to sing the first line while the other half responded with “His love endures forever.” The pattern repeats itself in every verse of the psalm. Singing of God’s goodness to us—especially with other believers—reminds us of His character and inclines our emotions to reflect our gratitude to Him.

Nice Shot?
To him who struck down the firstborn of Egypt His love endures forever. Psalm 136:10

When Walt Disney’s Bambi was re-released, moms and dads relived childhood memories with their sons and daughters. A young mother, whose husband was an avid outdoorsman with an impressive trophy room, was one of those parents. With her little ones at her side, she experienced with them the gasp and groan of the moment when Bambi lost his mother to a hunter. To this day she’s reminded at family gatherings of her embarrassment when, in all innocence, her little boy shouted out in the theater, “Nice shot!”

In time, we laugh at the embarrassing things our children say. But what are we to say when the people of Psalm 136 do something similar? Israel, God’s chosen and rescued people, celebrate a love that endures for all creation and for themselves—but not for their enemies. The psalm sings the praises of “him who struck down the firstborn of Egypt” (v. 10; see also Exodus 12:29–30).

Doesn’t that sound a bit like a shout of “nice shot” at the expense of someone else’s mother, sister, father, brother?

That’s why we need the rest of the story. Only when the lights come up in the resurrection of Jesus can the whole world be invited into the joy of one family’s stories, tears, and laughter. Only when we receive Jesus as our Savior and are made alive in Him can we share the wonder of a God who loves everyone—at His own expense. By:  Mart DeHaan

Reflect & Pray
What reason is given twenty-six times for this song? What lyrics show that the heart of God reaches beyond those who sing the words?

Unseen Father, thank You for giving me reasons to believe that Your vision and love for all are better and wider than my love for myself and my own.

My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Friday, October 23, 2020
Nothing of the Old Life!
If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new. —2 Corinthians 5:17

Our Lord never tolerates our prejudices— He is directly opposed to them and puts them to death. We tend to think that God has some special interest in our particular prejudices, and are very sure that He will never deal with us as He has to deal with others. We even say to ourselves, “God has to deal with other people in a very strict way, but of course He knows that my prejudices are all right.” But we must learn that God accepts nothing of the old life! Instead of being on the side of our prejudices, He is deliberately removing them from us. It is part of our moral education to see our prejudices put to death by His providence, and to watch how He does it. God pays no respect to anything we bring to Him. There is only one thing God wants of us, and that is our unconditional surrender.

When we are born again, the Holy Spirit begins to work His new creation in us, and there will come a time when there is nothing remaining of the old life. Our old gloomy outlook disappears, as does our old attitude toward things, and “all things are of God” (2 Corinthians 5:18). How are we going to get a life that has no lust, no self-interest, and is not sensitive to the ridicule of others? How will we have the type of love that “is kind…is not provoked, [and] thinks no evil”? (1 Corinthians 13:4-5). The only way is by allowing nothing of the old life to remain, and by having only simple, perfect trust in God— such a trust that we no longer want God’s blessings, but only want God Himself. Have we come to the point where God can withdraw His blessings from us without our trust in Him being affected? Once we truly see God at work, we will never be concerned again about the things that happen, because we are actually trusting in our Father in heaven, whom the world cannot see.

WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS

We are only what we are in the dark; all the rest is reputation. What God looks at is what we are in the dark—the imaginations of our minds; the thoughts of our heart; the habits of our bodies; these are the things that mark us in God’s sight.  The Love of God—The Ministry of the Unnoticed, 669 L

Bible in a Year: Jeremiah 1-2; 1 Timothy 3

A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Friday, October 23, 2020
Standing Against The Storm - #8815

Each summer it's been our privilege to travel with a team of young Native Americans to take the hope of Jesus to America's reservation young people, and God has really shown up powerfully for these young spiritual warriors. Like the night one summer in a very remote corner of New Mexico when our last outreach was about to be rained out. The previous night the thunderstorms had hit the basketball court just as we were about to present the Gospel. So, this was now our last opportunity to invite young people to come to Christ in an area where the spiritual darkness was very deeply entrenched.

Well, once again, just before invitation time, wouldn't you know it; a wall of ominous storm clouds was moving toward the school. I asked six of our team members to pray in the face of that approaching storm, and as I said, "Stand against that storm in Jesus' name." They got in a huddle and they prayed really fervently and minutes later they came running to tell me what had happened. They said, "Ron, the storm suddenly divided in two and went around the school!" That night one out of five people in that village made a public commitment to Jesus Christ!

I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Standing Against The Storm."

That might be exactly what God is wanting you to do right now - to stand in prayer against the storm that is threatening your children, or your marriage, or your ministry, or something or someone that you care deeply about.

In Isaiah 36, beginning with verse 18, our word for today from the Word of God, a deadly military storm is bearing down on King Hezekiah and the Jews. The seemingly invincible Assyrian army has gobbled up every kingdom in its path and now they're moving against Jerusalem. The Assyrian king sent this letter to Hezekiah, "Do not let the god you depend on deceive you when he says, 'Jerusalem will not be handed over to the king of Assyria.' Surely you have heard what the kings of Assyria have done to all the countries, destroying them completely." The storm has engulfed everything in its path, and this guy's saying Jerusalem is next.

Notice Hezekiah's response: "He went up to the temple of the Lord and spread it out before the Lord. And Hezekiah prayed to the Lord, 'O Lord Almighty, enthroned between the cherubim, You alone are God over all the kingdoms of the earth...Now O Lord our God, deliver us from his hand so that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that You alone, O Lord, are God.'" God tells Hezekiah He is going to intervene because "you have prayed to Me." Outcome? Listen: "The angel of the Lord went out and put to death a hundred and 85,000 men in the Assyrian camp...So Sennacherib, king of Assyria, broke camp and withdrew."

Now about that storm that's bearing down on you or someone you love. You have the same God King Hezekiah did, and He is Lord over this seemingly unstoppable storm. It's time for you to do what those Native American young people did that summer; get on your knees and you stand against that storm in Jesus' name. Do a Hezekiah - spread the threat out before your Lord. When you pray, don't focus on the threat, but like King Hezekiah, focus on the greatness and the total sovereignty of the God in whom you are trusting and trust Him to unleash His authority on that storm!

What looks like something that's going to bring destruction may actually be a unique opportunity for you, and all those around you, to see what God can do! This is about His glory being seen! So "come boldly to the throne of grace," the Bible says in Hebrews 4:16, lay out the threat before the Lord, stand against that storm, and expect something that only God can do!

Hebrews 13, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals

Max Lucado Daily: I AM IN THE STORM WITH YOU

On April 21, 2008, Katherine Wolf suffered a massive stroke. She lost her ability to walk, talk clearly, and care for herself.  She went from being a California model to a wheelchair-bound patient.  God stepped in.  In her wonderful book, Hope Heals, she writes, “I felt a deep awakening of the Word of God, which I had known since I was a little girl…It was my epiphany of hope!  I would never lose heart in this situation because my soul was not what was wasting away.”

Don’t try to weather this storm alone my friend.  He is still the great I AM.  The next time you pray, Is anyone coming to help me? listen for the response of Jesus.  I AM with you in the storm.  And remember my friend, you are never alone.

Hebrews 13

Jesus Doesn’t Change

Stay on good terms with each other, held together by love. Be ready with a meal or a bed when it’s needed. Why, some have extended hospitality to angels without ever knowing it! Regard prisoners as if you were in prison with them. Look on victims of abuse as if what happened to them had happened to you. Honor marriage, and guard the sacredness of sexual intimacy between wife and husband. God draws a firm line against casual and illicit sex.

5-6 Don’t be obsessed with getting more material things. Be relaxed with what you have. Since God assured us, “I’ll never let you down, never walk off and leave you,” we can boldly quote,

God is there, ready to help;
I’m fearless no matter what.
Who or what can get to me?

7-8 Appreciate your pastoral leaders who gave you the Word of God. Take a good look at the way they live, and let their faithfulness instruct you, as well as their truthfulness. There should be a consistency that runs through us all. For Jesus doesn’t change—yesterday, today, tomorrow, he’s always totally himself.

9 Don’t be lured away from him by the latest speculations about him. The grace of Christ is the only good ground for life. Products named after Christ don’t seem to do much for those who buy them.

10-12 The altar from which God gives us the gift of himself is not for exploitation by insiders who grab and loot. In the old system, the animals are killed and the bodies disposed of outside the camp. The blood is then brought inside to the altar as a sacrifice for sin. It’s the same with Jesus. He was crucified outside the city gates—that is where he poured out the sacrificial blood that was brought to God’s altar to cleanse his people.

13-15 So let’s go outside, where Jesus is, where the action is—not trying to be privileged insiders, but taking our share in the abuse of Jesus. This “insider world” is not our home. We have our eyes peeled for the City about to come. Let’s take our place outside with Jesus, no longer pouring out the sacrificial blood of animals but pouring out sacrificial praises from our lips to God in Jesus’ name.

16 Make sure you don’t take things for granted and go slack in working for the common good; share what you have with others. God takes particular pleasure in acts of worship—a different kind of “sacrifice”—that take place in kitchen and workplace and on the streets.

17 Be responsive to your pastoral leaders. Listen to their counsel. They are alert to the condition of your lives and work under the strict supervision of God. Contribute to the joy of their leadership, not its drudgery. Why would you want to make things harder for them?

18-21 Pray for us. We have no doubts about what we’re doing or why, but it’s hard going and we need your prayers. All we care about is living well before God. Pray that we may be together soon.

May God, who puts all things together,
    makes all things whole,
Who made a lasting mark through the sacrifice of Jesus,
    the sacrifice of blood that sealed the eternal covenant,
Who led Jesus, our Great Shepherd,
    up and alive from the dead,
Now put you together, provide you
    with everything you need to please him,
Make us into what gives him most pleasure,
    by means of the sacrifice of Jesus, the Messiah.
All glory to Jesus forever and always!
    Oh, yes, yes, yes.

22-23 Friends, please take what I’ve written most seriously. I’ve kept this as brief as possible; I haven’t piled on a lot of extras. You’ll be glad to know that Timothy has been let out of prison. If he leaves soon, I’ll come with him and get to see you myself.

24 Say hello to your pastoral leaders and all the congregations. Everyone here in Italy wants to be remembered to you.

25 Grace be with you, every one.

Our Daily Bread reading and devotion   
Thursday, October 22, 2020
Today's Scripture & Insight:

Matthew 28:16–20

The Great Commission

Then the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain where Jesus had told them to go. 17 When they saw him, they worshiped him; but some doubted. 18 Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”

Insight
Jesus’ command to His disciples to go and make more disciples (Matthew 28:19) is commonly known as the Great Commission. But tucked in the middle of this scene is a phrase that generally gets little attention. When the disciples met Jesus on the mountain, they responded in worship. Then the text says, “but some doubted” (v. 17). Some commentators suggest there were others in attendance further away, and they were the “some” who doubted. But what did they doubt?

The word translated “doubted” is the Greek word edistasan. Matthew is the only New Testament writer to use this word (it’s also found in 14:31, where it’s translated “doubt”). This word can mean to waver, doubt, or hesitate. It may be that “hesitate” is a better translation. Perhaps the response of those further away from where Jesus was teaching (those on the outskirts who’d perhaps not yet seen the risen Christ) was hesitant and not an immediate response of worship.

Laundry Day
Go, then, to all peoples everywhere and make them my disciples. Matthew 28:19 gnt

Driving through a low-income area near his church, Colorado pastor Chad Graham started praying for his “neighbors.” When he noticed a small laundromat, he stopped to take a look inside and found it filled with customers. One asked Graham for a spare coin to operate the clothes dryer. That small request inspired a weekly “Laundry Day” sponsored by Graham’s church. Members donate coins and soap to the laundromat, pray with customers, and support the owner of the laundry facility.

Their neighborhood outreach, which dares to include a laundromat, reflects Jesus’ Great Commission to His disciples. As He said, “I have been given all authority in heaven and on earth. Go, then, to all peoples everywhere and make them my disciples: baptize them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit” (Matthew 28:18–19 gnt).

His Holy Spirit’s powerful presence enables “everywhere” outreach, including even a laundromat. Indeed, we don’t go alone. As Jesus promised, “I will be with you always, to the end of the age” (v. 20 gnt).

Pastor Chad experienced that truth after praying at the laundromat for a customer named Jeff who is battling cancer. As Chad reported, “When we opened our eyes, every customer in the room was praying with us, hands stretched out toward Jeff. It was one of the most sacred moments I have experienced as a pastor.”

The lesson? Let’s go everywhere to proclaim Christ. By:  Patricia Raybon

Reflect & Pray
Where can you go in your neighborhood today to proclaim Christ? How could His powerful presence enable you?

Jesus, enable me to proclaim Your good news today—everywhere.

My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Thursday, October 22, 2020
The Witness of the Spirit
The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit… —Romans 8:16

We are in danger of getting into a bargaining spirit with God when we come to Him— we want the witness of the Spirit before we have done what God tells us to do.

Why doesn’t God reveal Himself to you? He cannot. It is not that He will not, but He cannot, because you are in the way as long as you won’t abandon yourself to Him in total surrender. Yet once you do, immediately God witnesses to Himself— He cannot witness to you, but He instantly witnesses to His own nature in you. If you received the witness of the Spirit before the reality and truth that comes from obedience, it would simply result in sentimental emotion. But when you act on the basis of redemption, and stop the disrespectfulness of debating with God, He immediately gives His witness. As soon as you abandon your own reasoning and arguing, God witnesses to what He has done, and you are amazed at your total disrespect in having kept Him waiting. If you are debating as to whether or not God can deliver from sin, then either let Him do it or tell Him that He cannot. Do not quote this or that person to Him. Simply obey Matthew 11:28, “Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden….” Come, if you are weary, and ask, if you know you are evil (see Luke 11:9-13).

The Spirit of God witnesses to the redemption of our Lord, and to nothing else. He cannot witness to our reason. We are inclined to mistake the simplicity that comes from our natural commonsense decisions for the witness of the Spirit, but the Spirit witnesses only to His own nature, and to the work of redemption, never to our reason. If we are trying to make Him witness to our reason, it is no wonder that we are in darkness and uncertainty. Throw it all overboard, trust in Him, and He will give you the witness of the Spirit.

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

Bible in a Year: Isaiah 65-66; 1 Timothy 2

A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Thursday, October 22, 2020
The Home Keys That Make Life Make Sense - #8814

Most of us had some classes in high school where we sat there and grumbled, "When am I ever going to use this stuff?" Right? In some cases, we really have ended up using what Miss Pringle taught us. In other cases, we were right about never using it. There's one class I've benefited from almost every day of my life, including even today. Yeah, I had a typing class. Oh yeah, it was "old school." I started out with what they called a Selectric typewriter. Younger listeners are asking, "Selectric? What's that?" It's a typewriter. Never mind. I'll take you for a tour of the museum. But, you know, today it's a computer keyboard. And when I have a lot of writing to do, which I usually do, it's a good thing I learned to type those many years ago. And, you know what? My wife told me that I was one of the fastest typists that she knew. With the amount of work I have to get done in a day, do I have a choice?

Of course, it isn't just speed that counts. No, there's that accuracy thing. Going fast doesn't always mean you're getting it right. Every once in a while I'll look up at the screen only to see a string of words that don't exist, "gozornanplatz fufti." I look down. I'm like, "What?" My fingers aren't where they're supposed to be on that keyboard. I learned it my first day in typing class; they're called the home keys. You make sure your typing fingers are on the home keys, then you reach out to all the other keys from there, unless you want to produce something that makes absolutely no sense!

I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "The Home Keys That Make Life Make Sense."

The home keys. They're the only starting point on the keyboard from which you can compose things that make sense. Start any other place and you're going to have a mess.

Life has some home keys; a starting point from which we should run our life. Unfortunately, too many of us stand back and look at where our life is going, and what's showing up on the screen. It isn't making much sense. Things aren't working the way they're supposed to. Too many things we had hoped would fulfill us have left us empty. Too many relationships we thought would be what we needed have left us disappointed. And so many pursuits we thought would give our life some meaning have turned out to be so hollow.

Life doesn't work until you land on the home keys. And thankfully, the God who put us here has made clear just where home base is. It's spelled out in Matthew 6:33, our word for today from the Word of God, where He says: "Seek the Kingdom of God above all else, and live righteously, and He will give you everything you need" (NLT).

There's home base. Putting what God wants first, which we haven't. We've put what we want first. Maybe that's why the middle letter of sin is "I." And we're created, it says, to "live righteously." Too often, we don't. Instead we do the selfish thing, the angry thing, the dirty thing, the hurting thing. We've tried to run our life from the wrong starting point. It's called "my way."

But God didn't leave us there, even though He had every right to. No, instead, He sent the most precious thing He has, His Son, to help us find home. Here's how God poured out His love for you. The Bible says: "Christ suffered for our sins...to bring you safely home to God" (1 Peter 3:18). Home is where God is, and only Jesus can bring you there, because it took more than a religion to span that Grand Canyon between us and God. It took the cross; it took the life of the only Son God has.

Your restlessness, loneliness, and dissatisfaction with life, they've all been pointing you to find the only starting point that makes life make sense - in a personal love relationship with Jesus Christ.

Look, if that's what you want, you need to tell Him, "Jesus, I'm done running life my way. I know that doesn't work. I'm Yours, Jesus!" That's how you'll find home, and I'd love to help you get there. That's why our website is set up, to help you do that. It's ANewStory.com. Go to ANewStory.com.

You've tried it with your heart away from the only One who can make it all make sense. You could find home base today and from there start building a life that really works.

Lamentations 5, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals

Max Lucado Daily: WELCOME JESUS INTO THE TURBULENCE

We’d rather be spared the storm.  Or if the storm comes, let it be mild and our deliverance quick. Let the job dismissal come with a severance package and an offer of a better position.  Let the marital strife turn quickly to romance.  Sometimes it does.  But when it doesn’t, when we are thorax-deep in turbulence, Jesus wants us to know his name and hear him say, “I AM coming.”

Such was the experience of the disciples.  The moment they invited Christ into their boat was the moment they reached their destination.  “So they gladly took him aboard, and at once the boat reached the shore they were making for” (John 6:21).

Follow the example of the disciples.  Welcome Jesus into the midst of this turbulent time. Don’t let the storm turn you inward.  Let it turn you upward.  Remember, my friend, you are never alone.

Lamentations 5

Give Us a Fresh Start

 “Remember, God, all we’ve been through.
    Study our plight, the black mark we’ve made in history.
Our precious land has been given to outsiders,
    our homes to strangers.
Orphans we are, not a father in sight,
    and our mothers no better than widows.
We have to pay to drink our own water.
    Even our firewood comes at a price.
We’re nothing but slaves, bullied and bowed,
    worn out and without any rest.
We sold ourselves to Assyria and Egypt
    just to get something to eat.
Our parents sinned and are no more,
    and now we’re paying for the wrongs they did.
Slaves rule over us;
    there’s no escape from their grip.
We risk our lives to gather food
    in the bandit-infested desert.
Our skin has turned black as an oven,
    dried out like old leather from the famine.
Our wives were raped in the streets in Zion,
    and our virgins in the cities of Judah.
They hanged our princes by their hands,
    dishonored our elders.
Strapping young men were put to women’s work,
    mere boys forced to do men’s work.
The city gate is empty of wise elders.
    Music from the young is heard no more.
All the joy is gone from our hearts.
    Our dances have turned into dirges.
The crown of glory has toppled from our head.
    Woe! Woe! Would that we’d never sinned!
Because of all this we’re heartsick;
    we can’t see through the tears.
On Mount Zion, wrecked and ruined,
    jackals pace and prowl.
And yet, God, you’re sovereign still,
    your throne intact and eternal.
So why do you keep forgetting us?
    Why dump us and leave us like this?
Bring us back to you, God—we’re ready to come back.
    Give us a fresh start.
As it is, you’ve cruelly disowned us.
    You’ve been so very angry with us.”

Our Daily Bread reading and devotion   
Wednesday, October 21, 2020
Today's Scripture & Insight:

1 Timothy 1:12–17

The Lord’s Grace to Paul

I thank Christ Jesus our Lord, who has given me strength, that he considered me trustworthy, appointing me to his service. 13 Even though I was once a blasphemer and a persecutor and a violent man, I was shown mercy because I acted in ignorance and unbelief. 14 The grace of our Lord was poured out on me abundantly, along with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus.

15 Here is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners—of whom I am the worst. 16 But for that very reason I was shown mercy so that in me, the worst of sinners, Christ Jesus might display his immense patience as an example for those who would believe in him and receive eternal life. 17 Now to the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory for ever and ever. Amen.

Insight
In 1 Timothy 1:13, Paul recalled how some thirty years earlier he had mercilessly persecuted believers in Jesus, and yet Jesus had mercifully saved him on the Damascus Road (Acts 9:1–19; 22:3–21; 26:9–18). He considered himself the least qualified and the most undeserving recipient of God’s mercy and grace (1 Timothy 1:13–14). Yet God told Ananias that Paul was to be His “chosen instrument” to take the gospel to the gentiles (Acts 9:15). Paul saw another reason God chose to save him: he was “a prime example of [God’s] great patience with even the worst sinners.” Because God saved Paul, “others [would] realize that they, too, can believe in [God] and receive eternal life” (1 Timothy 1:16 nlt). God had us in mind when He saved Paul—an amazing thought! Paul makes it clear that if Jesus could save and use him, the worst of sinners, then no one is beyond God’s mercy and saving grace.


What’s Wrong with the World?
Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners—of whom I am the worst. 1 Timothy 1:15

There is an oft-heard story that The London Times posed a question to readers at the turn of the twentieth century. What’s wrong with the world?

That’s quite the question, isn’t it? Someone might quickly respond, “Well, how much time do you have for me to tell you?” And that would be fair, as there seems to be so much that’s wrong with our world. As the story goes, The Times received a number of responses, but one in particular has endured in its brief brilliance. The English writer, poet, and philosopher G. K. Chesterton penned this four-word response, a refreshing surprise to the usual passing-of-the-buck: “Dear Sirs, I am.”

Whether the story is factual or not is up for debate. But that response? It’s nothing but true. Long before Chesterton came along, there was an apostle named Paul. Far from a lifelong model citizen, Paul confessed his past shortcomings: “I was once a blasphemer and a persecutor and a violent man” (v. 13). After naming who Jesus came to save (“sinners”), he goes on to make a very Chesterton-like qualification: “of whom I am the worst” (v. 15). Paul knew exactly what was and is wrong with the world. And he further knew the only hope of making things right—“the grace of our Lord” (v. 14). What an amazing reality! This enduring truth lifts our eyes to the light of Christ’s saving love.  By:  John Blase

Reflect & Pray
What is wrong with the world? Can you own the answer Paul and Chesterton gave? What is one way you can accept that without sliding into self-hatred?  

God, thank You for Your immense patience with me, a sinner. To You be honor and glory forever and ever.

To learn about answering questions related to the Christian faith, visit ChristianUniversity.org/CA101.

My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Wednesday, October 21, 2020
Impulsiveness or Discipleship?
But you, beloved, building yourselves up on your most holy faith… —Jude 20

There was nothing of the nature of impulsive or thoughtless action about our Lord, but only a calm strength that never got into a panic. Most of us develop our Christianity along the lines of our own nature, not along the lines of God’s nature. Impulsiveness is a trait of the natural life, and our Lord always ignores it, because it hinders the development of the life of a disciple. Watch how the Spirit of God gives a sense of restraint to impulsiveness, suddenly bringing us a feeling of self-conscious foolishness, which makes us instantly want to vindicate ourselves. Impulsiveness is all right in a child, but is disastrous in a man or woman— an impulsive adult is always a spoiled person. Impulsiveness needs to be trained into intuition through discipline.

Discipleship is built entirely on the supernatural grace of God. Walking on water is easy to someone with impulsive boldness, but walking on dry land as a disciple of Jesus Christ is something altogether different. Peter walked on the water to go to Jesus, but he “followed Him at a distance” on dry land (Mark 14:54). We do not need the grace of God to withstand crises— human nature and pride are sufficient for us to face the stress and strain magnificently. But it does require the supernatural grace of God to live twenty-four hours of every day as a saint, going through drudgery, and living an ordinary, unnoticed, and ignored existence as a disciple of Jesus. It is ingrained in us that we have to do exceptional things for God— but we do not. We have to be exceptional in the ordinary things of life, and holy on the ordinary streets, among ordinary people— and this is not learned in five minutes.

WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS

The life of Abraham is an illustration of two things: of unreserved surrender to God, and of God’s complete possession of a child of His for His own highest end. Not Knowing Whither, 901 R

Bible in a Year: Isaiah 62-64; 1 Timothy 1

A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Wednesday, October 21, 2020
Calling Off the Pity Party - #8813

One of my favorite cartoon characters is Pigpen. You know, from Peanuts. Maybe you're a Charlie Brown fan like I am, but Pigpen is that little fellow you always know when he's coming. Yeah, he never has to make a lot of noise, because there's this cloud of dust that precedes him wherever he goes and also follows him wherever he goes. Actually, I know some real people like Pigpen. Now wait, wait! I don't mean people who haven't showered for a month, but the dirt they circulate - it's emotional dirt. It's called self-pity. Every time they talk it seems like they're preoccupied with themselves, their needs, their latest problems, the unfair treatment they've gotten, their aches and pains. Listen, we all slip into the pit of self-pity once in a while, but some people live there. There's a great alternative to living in that Pigpen cloud of dust called self-pity.

I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Calling Off the Pity Party."

I'll tell you, you talk about having an excuse for a pity party, this man had everything going wrong. His name is Joseph. You remember the story in the Bible. Of all 12 sons, Joseph's Dad treated him with preferential treatment. So his brothers turned against him, left him for dead in a pit. Slave traders came and took him away to Egypt.

But Joseph got a great job there from a powerful man. And the man's wife tried to make moves on him after that, and he refused to do it. Well, she accused him of having done it, and in her anger she gets him thrown into prison. So, his family is against him, he lost his job for doing the right thing. Now he's in prison. He doesn't know for how long he's going to be there. But here's what the Bible says about Joseph. It tells us that he knew the secret of how to be in a pit without being in "the pits"; how to be in a pit without having a pity party. And here's the secret of why Joseph was so unsinkable when everything went wrong and had everything to complain about.

Genesis 40:2-7 - "Pharaoh was angry with his two officials, the chief cupbearer and the chief baker, and he put them in custody in the house of the captain of the guard, in the same prison where Joseph was confined. The captain of the guard assigned them to Joseph, and he attended them. After they had been in custody for some time, each of the two men - the cupbearer and the baker of the king of Egypt - had a dream that same night, and each dream had a meaning of its own. When Joseph came to them the next morning, he saw that they were dejected. So he asked Pharaoh's officials, 'Why are your faces so sad today?'"

Okay, get this: Joseph was walking around this prison, not feeling sorry for himself, which I think justifiably he could have. No, he's looking for who needs him. He learned to live daily, I think, asking a question like this, even in his prison, "Who needs me here?" There was no time to just focus on how bad his situation was. No, he wanted to help these guys in their situation. And eventually, one of these men that Joseph cared about got him out of that prison.

The very best way to get out of your prison of depression and self-pity is to live each day looking for someone who needs you, not for what you need. Maybe it's the new kid at school, that friend who's struggling right now, an excluded person who needs somebody to include them - bring him in, put an arm around them, or that friend who's out of work, or maybe a lonely older person you know. You might not have to look any farther than your own family to find that someone who needs you today.

But Jesus told us we would find our life; not by looking for it, not by hanging onto it, but by giving it away. Not because you feel like it, you probably don't. But because Jesus lived like that, and because you know that's where to find light at the end of your own personal tunnel.

Remember, even when you get home tonight, ask yourself this question, "So, who needs me here right now?"

Lamentations 4 , Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals

Max Lucado Daily: THE GREAT I AM IS NEAR

Jesus says to us what he said to the disciples on the stormy sea.  “It is I!  Don’t be afraid” (John 6:20).

The literal translation of what Jesus said is “I AM; don’t be afraid.”  I AM.  That’s God’s name.  When we wonder if God is coming, he answers with his name, “I AM!”  When we wonder if he is able, he declares, “I AM.”  When we see nothing but darkness, feel nothing but doubt, and wonder if God is near or aware, the welcome answer from Jesus is this: “I AM!”

Pause for a moment and let him tell you his name.  Your greatest need is his presence.  Yes, you want this storm to pass.  Yes, you want the winds to still.  But yes, yes, yes, you want to know, need to know, and must know that the great I AM is near. Remember, friends, you are never alone.

Lamentations 4

Waking Up with Nothing

Oh, oh, oh . . .
How gold is treated like dirt,
    the finest gold thrown out with the garbage,
Priceless jewels scattered all over,
    jewels loose in the gutters.

2 And the people of Zion, once prized,
    far surpassing their weight in gold,
Are now treated like cheap pottery,
    like everyday pots and bowls mass-produced by a potter.

3 Even wild jackals nurture their babies,
    give them their breasts to suckle.
But my people have turned cruel to their babies,
    like an ostrich in the wilderness.

4 Babies have nothing to drink.
    Their tongues stick to the roofs of their mouths.
Little children ask for bread
    but no one gives them so much as a crust.

5 People used to the finest cuisine
    forage for food in the streets.
People used to the latest in fashions
    pick through the trash for something to wear.

6 The evil guilt of my dear people
    was worse than the sin of Sodom—
The city was destroyed in a flash,
    and no one around to help.

7 The splendid and sacred nobles
    once glowed with health.
Their bodies were robust and ruddy,
    their beards like carved stone.

8 But now they are smeared with soot,
    unrecognizable in the street,
Their bones sticking out,
    their skin dried out like old leather.

9 Better to have been killed in battle
    than killed by starvation.
Better to have died of battle wounds
    than to slowly starve to death.

10 Nice and kindly women
    boiled their own children for supper.
This was the only food in town
    when my dear people were broken.

11 God let all his anger loose, held nothing back.
    He poured out his raging wrath.
He set a fire in Zion
    that burned it to the ground.

12 The kings of the earth couldn’t believe it.
    World rulers were in shock,
Watching old enemies march in big as you please,
    right through Jerusalem’s gates.

13 Because of the sins of her prophets
    and the evil of her priests,
Who exploited good and trusting people,
    robbing them of their lives,

14 These prophets and priests blindly grope their way through the streets,
    grimy and stained from their dirty lives,
Wasted by their wasted lives,
    shuffling from fatigue, dressed in rags.

15 People yell at them, “Get out of here, dirty old men!
    Get lost, don’t touch us, don’t infect us!”
They have to leave town. They wander off.
    Nobody wants them to stay here.
Everyone knows, wherever they wander,
    that they’ve been kicked out of their own hometown.

16 God himself scattered them.
    No longer does he look out for them.
He has nothing to do with the priests;
    he cares nothing for the elders.

17 We watched and watched,
    wore our eyes out looking for help. And nothing.
We mounted our lookouts and looked
    for the help that never showed up.

18 They tracked us down, those hunters.
    It wasn’t safe to go out in the street.
Our end was near, our days numbered.
    We were doomed.

19 They came after us faster than eagles in flight,
    pressed us hard in the mountains, ambushed us in the desert.

20 Our king, our life’s breath, the anointed of God,
    was caught in their traps—
Our king under whose protection
    we always said we’d live.

21 Celebrate while you can, O Edom!
    Live it up in Uz!
For it won’t be long before you drink this cup, too.
    You’ll find out what it’s like to drink God’s wrath,
Get drunk on God’s wrath
    and wake up with nothing, stripped naked.

22 And that’s it for you, Zion. The punishment’s complete.
    You won’t have to go through this exile again.
But Edom, your time is coming:
    He’ll punish your evil life, put all your sins on display.

Our Daily Bread reading and devotion   
Tuesday, October 20, 2020
Today's Scripture & Insight:

2 Corinthians 12:1–10

Paul’s Vision and His Thorn

I must go on boasting. Although there is nothing to be gained, I will go on to visions and revelations from the Lord. 2 I know a man in Christ who fourteen years ago was caught up to the third heaven. Whether it was in the body or out of the body I do not know—God knows. 3 And I know that this man—whether in the body or apart from the body I do not know, but God knows— 4 was caught up to paradise and heard inexpressible things, things that no one is permitted to tell. 5 I will boast about a man like that, but I will not boast about myself, except about my weaknesses. 6 Even if I should choose to boast, I would not be a fool, because I would be speaking the truth. But I refrain, so no one will think more of me than is warranted by what I do or say, 7 or because of these surpassingly great revelations. Therefore, in order to keep me from becoming conceited, I was given a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me. 8 Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. 9 But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. 10 That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.

Insight
Responding to false teachers who said he wasn’t a genuine apostle because he didn’t have ecstatic spiritual experiences, Paul deliberately boasted about the many visions and surpassingly great revelations he’d received (2 Corinthians 12:1–7). Converted and commissioned to be an apostle through a vision of the resurrected Christ (Acts 9:1–19; 22:17–21), Paul brought the gospel into Europe led by a vision of “a man of Macedonia” (16:6–10). And Paul, “caught up to paradise,” saw what heaven was like (2 Corinthians 12:1–4). Such boasting is uncharacteristic of Paul, for he wouldn’t “boast about [himself], except about [his] weaknesses” (v. 5; see also 11:30; Galatians 6:14).

Golden Scars
If I must boast, I will boast of the things that show my weakness. 2 Corinthians 11:30

In the Netherlands, a group of fashion designers offer a “Golden Joinery” workshop. Inspired by the Japanese technique Kintsugi, where broken porcelain is visibly repaired with gold, participants collaborate in mending clothes in ways that highlight the mending work rather than trying to mask it. Those who are invited bring “a dear but broken garment and mend it with gold.” As they remake their clothes, the repair becomes ornamental, a “golden scar.”

Articles of clothing are transformed in ways that highlight the places where they were torn or frayed. Perhaps this is something like what Paul meant when he said that he would “boast” in the things that showed his weakness. Although he’d experienced “surpassingly great revelations,” he doesn’t brag about them (2 Corinthians 12:6). He is kept from getting proud and overconfident, he says, by a “thorn” in his flesh (v. 7). No one knows exactly what he was referring to—perhaps depression, a form of malaria, persecution from enemies, or something else. Whatever it was, he begged God to take it away. But God said, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness” (v. 9).

Just as the rips and tears in old clothes can become sights of beauty as they’re remade by designers, the broken and weak places in our lives can become places where God’s power and glory may shine. He holds us together, transforms us, and makes our weaknesses beautiful. By:  Amy Peterson

Reflect & Pray
What are some weaknesses you try to keep hidden from the world? How has God revealed His power through your weakness?

God, may all my scars become golden as You heal and repair me in ways that bring glory to Your name.

My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Tuesday, October 20, 2020
Is God’s Will My Will?
This is the will of God, your sanctification… —1 Thessalonians 4:3

Sanctification is not a question of whether God is willing to sanctify me— is it my will? Am I willing to let God do in me everything that has been made possible through the atonement of the Cross of Christ? Am I willing to let Jesus become sanctification to me, and to let His life be exhibited in my human flesh? (see 1 Corinthians 1:30). Beware of saying, “Oh, I am longing to be sanctified.” No, you are not. Recognize your need, but stop longing and make it a matter of action. Receive Jesus Christ to become sanctification for you by absolute, unquestioning faith, and the great miracle of the atonement of Jesus will become real in you.

All that Jesus made possible becomes mine through the free and loving gift of God on the basis of what Christ accomplished on the cross. And my attitude as a saved and sanctified soul is that of profound, humble holiness (there is no such thing as proud holiness). It is a holiness based on agonizing repentance, a sense of inexpressible shame and degradation, and also on the amazing realization that the love of God demonstrated itself to me while I cared nothing about Him (see Romans 5:8). He completed everything for my salvation and sanctification. No wonder Paul said that nothing “shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 8:39).

Sanctification makes me one with Jesus Christ, and in Him one with God, and it is accomplished only through the magnificent atonement of Christ. Never confuse the effect with the cause. The effect in me is obedience, service, and prayer, and is the outcome of inexpressible thanks and adoration for the miraculous sanctification that has been brought about in me because of the atonement through the Cross of Christ.

WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS

We must keep ourselves in touch, not with theories, but with people, and never get out of touch with human beings, if we are going to use the word of God skilfully amongst them.  Workmen of God, 1341 L

Bible in a Year: Isaiah 59-61; 2 Thessalonians 3


A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Tuesday, October 20, 2020
Expensive Peace - #8812

It's an amazing true story from the history of the Cree Indians of western Canada. Through many courageous exploits, a young man named Maskepetoon became known as the bravest warrior in the tribe. One day a man came to Maskepetoon's camp talking about peace - something his tribe had never known because of that relentless bloodshed between his Cree tribe and their longtime enemies, the Blackfoot. But this man with a black book called the Bible introduced this warrior to the Creator of all. The missionary told him of how the Creator God's Son defeated the Evil Manitou, the Enemy of all. He climbed to the top of a hill and gave His life on a cross as a peace offering. That meant peace could be restored between the Creator of all and the people He had made.

Maskepetoon knew that the ancient symbol of peace among the Plains Cree had always been two crossed sticks. And it was two crossed sticks that the Creator God's Son had died on. Maskepetoon decided he wanted to be like Jesus, the bravest warrior of all.

In the past, when one tribe had wanted to make peace with another, they would send their bravest warrior to meet the enemy with a special offering tied onto two crossed sticks. But that seemed impossible now when there was killing every time a Blackfoot warrior saw a Cree warrior. But in spite of the danger, Maskepetoon went into Blackfoot country on just such a mission. The camp they came to first happened to be the camp of Many Swans, a violent chief who was seeking revenge for the sons he'd lost to Cree warriors.

Maskepetoon climbed to the top of a nearby hill, raised a flag and waited for the Blackfoot band to see them. With them, they brought a beautiful pair of beaded moccasins, tied onto two crossed sticks and a Bible that told of the peace the Creator had made with all men. Pretending to want peace, Many Swans tricked the Cree peacemakers into laying down their weapons, after which he and his warriors killed them all. But the chief's wife was furious with her husband. She was tired of all the killing. Ultimately, the Blackfoot people agreed. But none of them was brave enough to risk going to talk peace with the Cree, especially after what they had done to Maskepetoon.

So the chief's wife went, carrying with her the ancient symbol of peace - a frame of crossed sticks with a specially beaded pair of moccasins tied to its center. The Cree chief, who had himself made peace with the Creator through Jesus' death, welcomed her Under his leadership, the Cree met together with the Blackfoot on a high hill, where a peace treaty was signed. And their long war was finally over.

I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Expensive Peace."

In so many ways, this is my story. This is your story. It's the story of peace made possible by the death of the greatest Warrior of them all - on two crossed beams - for you. Because of our sin, the Bible says we are "alienated from God"; we are "enemies" (Colossians 1:21). We are hopelessly cut off from the God who made us; the God we will meet on Judgment Day. And, in the Bible's words, "there is no peace" (Isaiah 57:21) when you're away from God. The turmoil in your soul is living proof of that.

But here comes the hope. It's in Colossians 1:20, our word for today from the Word of God. God says His Son came to reconcile our broken relationship with Him "by making peace through His blood, shed on the cross." He climbed to the top of a hill called Skull Hill and died as the sacrifice for your sin. The Bible puts it this way: "The punishment that brought us peace was upon Him" (Isaiah 53:5).

And that blood-bought peace can be yours today. Finally, peace with God. Finally, peace in your heart. If you will lay down all the other things you've counted on to make it with God and put your total trust in Jesus, who died for you, who rose again for you. That's a step I would love to help you take this very day.

There's a lot of great information about getting started with Jesus on our website. That website is ANewStory.com. Your new story can begin there today. The war can end. Peace can begin. Peace that costs you nothing. Peace that cost the Great Warrior, Jesus, everything.

Lamentations 3, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals

Max Lucado Daily: IN THE MIDST OF THE STORM

“…[Jesus’] disciples went down to the lake, where they got into a boat and set off across the lake for Capernaum. By now it was dark, and Jesus had not yet joined them.  A strong wind was blowing and the waters grew rough” (John 6:16–18).

The disciples were too far from the shore, too long in the struggle, and too small against the waves.  And Jesus was nowhere to be seen.  Have you ever encountered a dangerous, ominous, seemingly godforsaken storm?  Storms overtake us.  And it sometimes seems they will never end.

But then the unimaginable happens.  John gives no details, just this economical statement: “They saw Jesus… walking on the water” (John 6:19). That is all we need to know.  Before Jesus stills the storms, he comes to us in the midst of storms. And He’ll come and meet you in yours. Remember, friend, you are never alone.

Lamentations 3

God Locked Me Up in Deep Darkness

I’m the man who has seen trouble,
    trouble coming from the lash of God’s anger.
He took me by the hand and walked me
    into pitch-black darkness.
Yes, he’s given me the back of his hand
    over and over and over again.

4-6 He turned me into a scarecrow
    of skin and bones, then broke the bones.
He hemmed me in, ganged up on me,
    poured on the trouble and hard times.
He locked me up in deep darkness,
    like a corpse nailed inside a coffin.

7-9 He shuts me in so I’ll never get out,
    manacles my hands, shackles my feet.
Even when I cry out and plead for help,
    he locks up my prayers and throws away the key.
He sets up blockades with quarried limestone.
    He’s got me cornered.

10-12 He’s a prowling bear tracking me down,
    a lion in hiding ready to pounce.
He knocked me from the path and ripped me to pieces.
    When he finished, there was nothing left of me.
He took out his bow and arrows
    and used me for target practice.

13-15 He shot me in the stomach
    with arrows from his quiver.
Everyone took me for a joke,
    made me the butt of their mocking ballads.
He forced rotten, stinking food down my throat,
    bloated me with vile drinks.

16-18 He ground my face into the gravel.
    He pounded me into the mud.
I gave up on life altogether.
    I’ve forgotten what the good life is like.
I said to myself, “This is it. I’m finished.
    God is a lost cause.”

It’s a Good Thing to Hope for Help from God
19-21 I’ll never forget the trouble, the utter lostness,
    the taste of ashes, the poison I’ve swallowed.
I remember it all—oh, how well I remember—
    the feeling of hitting the bottom.
But there’s one other thing I remember,
    and remembering, I keep a grip on hope:

22-24 God’s loyal love couldn’t have run out,
    his merciful love couldn’t have dried up.
They’re created new every morning.
    How great your faithfulness!
I’m sticking with God (I say it over and over).
    He’s all I’ve got left.

25-27 God proves to be good to the man who passionately waits,
    to the woman who diligently seeks.
It’s a good thing to quietly hope,
    quietly hope for help from God.
It’s a good thing when you’re young
    to stick it out through the hard times.

28-30 When life is heavy and hard to take,
    go off by yourself. Enter the silence.
Bow in prayer. Don’t ask questions:
    Wait for hope to appear.
Don’t run from trouble. Take it full-face.
    The “worst” is never the worst.

31-33 Why? Because the Master won’t ever
    walk out and fail to return.
If he works severely, he also works tenderly.
    His stockpiles of loyal love are immense.
He takes no pleasure in making life hard,
    in throwing roadblocks in the way:

34-36 Stomping down hard
    on luckless prisoners,
Refusing justice to victims
    in the court of High God,
Tampering with evidence—
    the Master does not approve of such things.

God Speaks Both Good Things and Hard Things into Being
37-39 Who do you think “spoke and it happened”?
    It’s the Master who gives such orders.
Doesn’t the High God speak everything,
    good things and hard things alike, into being?
And why would anyone gifted with life
    complain when punished for sin?

40-42 Let’s take a good look at the way we’re living
    and reorder our lives under God.
Let’s lift our hearts and hands at one and the same time,
    praying to God in heaven:
“We’ve been contrary and willful,
    and you haven’t forgiven.

43-45 “You lost your temper with us, holding nothing back.
    You chased us and cut us down without mercy.
You wrapped yourself in thick blankets of clouds
    so no prayers could get through.
You treated us like dirty dishwater,
    threw us out in the backyard of the nations.

46-48 “Our enemies shout abuse,
    their mouths full of derision, spitting invective.
We’ve been to hell and back.
    We’ve nowhere to turn, nowhere to go.
Rivers of tears pour from my eyes
    at the smashup of my dear people.

49-51 “The tears stream from my eyes,
    an artesian well of tears,
Until you, God, look down from on high,
    look and see my tears.
When I see what’s happened to the young women in the city,
    the pain breaks my heart.

52-54 “Enemies with no reason to be enemies
    hunted me down like a bird.
They threw me into a pit,
    then pelted me with stones.
Then the rains came and filled the pit.
    The water rose over my head. I said, ‘It’s all over.’

55-57 “I called out your name, O God,
    called from the bottom of the pit.
You listened when I called out, ‘Don’t shut your ears!
    Get me out of here! Save me!’
You came close when I called out.
    You said, ‘It’s going to be all right.’

58-60 “You took my side, Master;
    you brought me back alive!
God, you saw the wrongs heaped on me.
    Give me my day in court!
Yes, you saw their mean-minded schemes,
    their plots to destroy me.

61-63 “You heard, God, their vicious gossip,
    their behind-my-back plots to ruin me.
They never quit, these enemies of mine, dreaming up mischief,
    hatching out malice, day after day after day.
Sitting down or standing up—just look at them!—
    they mock me with vulgar doggerel.

64-66 “Make them pay for what they’ve done, God.
    Give them their just deserts.
Break their miserable hearts!
    Damn their eyes!
Get good and angry. Hunt them down.
    Make a total demolition here under your heaven!”

Our Daily Bread reading and devotion    
Monday, October 19, 2020
Today's Scripture & Insight:
Luke 23:32–34, 44–46

Two other men, both criminals, were also led out with him to be executed. 33 When they came to the place called the Skull, they crucified him there, along with the criminals—one on his right, the other on his left. 34 Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.”[a] And they divided up his clothes by casting lots.

The Death of Jesus
44 It was now about noon, and darkness came over the whole land until three in the afternoon, 45 for the sun stopped shining. And the curtain of the temple was torn in two. 46 Jesus called out with a loud voice, “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit.”[a] When he had said this, he breathed his last.

Insight
In Luke 23:34, Jesus asked God to forgive those who mocked Him and hung Him on the cross. The people and rulers scoffed, “He saved others; let him save himself if he is God’s Messiah, the Chosen One” (v. 35). What they didn’t understand was that Jesus was saving others—and them—by freely giving Himself. One simply needs to accept this gift of salvation.

Psalm 22 resonates through Luke’s words. The words of Psalm 22:8—“Let [the Lord] deliver him, since he delights in him”—are reflected in Luke 23:35. That Jesus was mocked is a fulfillment of Psalm 22:6–18, which describes “villains” surrounding Him, piercing His hands and feet, and casting lots for His clothes. The mockers likely didn’t realize their actions were fulfilling Old Testament prophecy and therefore proving Christ was the Messiah.

Stronger than Hate
Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing. Luke 23:34

Within twenty-four hours of his mother Sharonda’s tragic death, Chris found himself uttering these powerful, grace-filled words: “Love is stronger than hate.” His mother, along with eight others, had been killed at a Wednesday night Bible study in Charleston, South Carolina. What was it that had so shaped this teenager’s life that these words could flow from his lips and his heart? Chris is a believer in Jesus whose mother had “loved everybody with all her heart.”  

In Luke 23:26–49 we get a front row seat to an execution scene that included two criminals and the innocent Jesus (v. 32). All three were crucified (v. 33). Amid the gasps and sighs and the likely groans from those hanging on the crosses, the following words of Jesus could be heard: “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing” (v. 34). The hate-filled initiative of the religious leaders had resulted in the crucifixion of the very One who championed love. Though in agony, Jesus’ love continued to triumph.

How have you or someone you love been the target of hate, ill-will, bitterness, or ugliness? May your pain prompt your prayers, and may the example of Jesus and people like Chris encourage you by the power of the Spirit to choose love over hate. By:  Arthur Jackson

Reflect & Pray
When have you found it hard to love someone? Is there someone you find it hard to forgive now? What steps might you take?

Father, forgive me when I find it hard to forgive others. Help me to demonstrate that love is stronger than hate.

My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Monday, October 19, 2020
The Unheeded Secret
Jesus answered, "My kingdom is not of this world." —John 18:36

The great enemy of the Lord Jesus Christ today is the idea of practical work that has no basis in the New Testament but comes from the systems of the world. This work insists upon endless energy and activities, but no private life with God. The emphasis is put on the wrong thing. Jesus said, “The kingdom of God does not come with observation….For indeed, the kingdom of God is within you” (Luke 17:20-21). It is a hidden, obscure thing. An active Christian worker too often lives to be seen by others, while it is the innermost, personal area that reveals the power of a person’s life.

We must get rid of the plague of the spirit of this religious age in which we live. In our Lord’s life there was none of the pressure and the rushing of tremendous activity that we regard so highly today, and a disciple is to be like His Master. The central point of the kingdom of Jesus Christ is a personal relationship with Him, not public usefulness to others.

It is not the practical activities that are the strength of this Bible Training College— its entire strength lies in the fact that here you are immersed in the truths of God to soak in them before Him. You have no idea of where or how God is going to engineer your future circumstances, and no knowledge of what stress and strain is going to be placed on you either at home or abroad. And if you waste your time in overactivity, instead of being immersed in the great fundamental truths of God’s redemption, then you will snap when the stress and strain do come. But if this time of soaking before God is being spent in getting rooted and grounded in Him, which may appear to be impractical, then you will remain true to Him whatever happens.

WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS

We have no right to judge where we should be put, or to have preconceived notions as to what God is fitting us for. God engineers everything; wherever He puts us, our one great aim is to pour out a whole-hearted devotion to Him in that particular work. “Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might.” My Utmost for His Highest, April 23, 773 L

Bible in a Year: Isaiah 56-58; 2 Thessalonians 2

A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Monday, October 19, 2020
The Reason For the Heat - #8811

Our friend is incredibly creative - including creating jewelry. You know, she told us about how she made a beautiful gold ring. Actually the ring is designed in wax. When she has the ring design that she wants carved in the wax, she pours plaster-of-Paris around that molded wax ring. Then she puts it in an oven. Well, of course, the intense heat melts the wax away until there's no wax left, just a vacuum, which is shaped like the ring she wants. Then she puts this in a centrifuge, and that spins gold into the vacuum where the wax used to be. Gold rushes in where it used to be just wax. And out comes something very beautiful and a whole lot more valuable.

I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "The Reason For the Heat."

I have a feeling someone's listening right now, and well, it's like you're in the oven. The heat around you is rising, and sometimes it seems almost unbearable. There's stress and there's conflict, maybe grief or pain or heavy pressure. And it's hard not to ask, "Why, God? Why are You making me feel this heat that's so intense and why is it lasting so long?"

It could be that part of the answer is in our word for today from the Word of God in Malachi 3:2-3. "He will be like a refiner's fire or a launderer's soap. He will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver." The fire you're feeling might be the Refiner's fire. It's not designed to burn you or hurt you. It's designed to melt away the impurities and make you more valuable than you've ever been.

And notice, the Refiner only puts things that are valuable in the fire like gold and silver. So the heat you're feeling may not be because something's wrong, but because God thinks you're worth refining! He puts you in the fire because He believes in you, He loves you, He sees what you could be if you could just lose some of that "wax."

When the heat is on, God has our attention as He does at no other time. We really know Him when we really need Him, and we really need Him when it's hot. God may be using the fire right now to get you to examine some corners of your heart or of your life that you've never really surrendered fully to His Lordship. He may use the oven to show you junk you've accumulated that has got to go before He can take you to the next level. He wants to enlarge your view of Him. He wants to prepare you for greater things.

After a recent "A Word With You" broadcast, I got this email: "Our home burned on December 25. I was very thankful God was with us during the fire and we all made it out, but I was still very depressed over the loss we suffered of our home." She goes on to tell about driving down the road and hearing a message that day where we talked about purifying fire.

She says, "That was the beginning of our blessings from God concerning the fire. Although we are a spiritual family, we had not truly connected with God in a while. He has brought us a long way since December 25. Just as that day symbolized the birth of Jesus, it will also serve as the rebirth of us spiritually." She said, "Although we did lose everything we owned materially, we gained something much more precious that night, something that will be with us no matter what may come - a heart filled with love for our Savior."

Well, that's why you're in the fire, to burn away all the wax, so God can pour His gold where once there was only wax. He is making something very, very beautiful.

Hebrews 12, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals

Max Lucado Daily: He is Preparing a Place

God's purpose from all eternity is to prepare a family to indwell the kingdom of God. "For I know the plans I have for you," declares the Lord, "plans to prosper you and not harm you, plans to give you a hope and a future." (Jeremiah 29:11).
God's plotting for our good. In all the setbacks, He is ordaining the best for our future. Every event of our day is designed to draw us toward our God and our destiny. When people junk you in the pit, God can use it for good. When family members sell you out, God will recycle the pain. Falsely accused?  Utterly abandoned?  You may stumble but you will not fall.  You will get through this!
Not because you are strong, but because God is. Not because you are big, but because God is. Not because you're good, but because God is. He has a place prepared for you!
From You'll Get Through This

Hebrews 12
Discipline in a Long-Distance Race

Do you see what this means—all these pioneers who blazed the way, all these veterans cheering us on? It means we’d better get on with it. Strip down, start running—and never quit! No extra spiritual fat, no parasitic sins. Keep your eyes on Jesus, who both began and finished this race we’re in. Study how he did it. Because he never lost sight of where he was headed—that exhilarating finish in and with God—he could put up with anything along the way: Cross, shame, whatever. And now he’s there, in the place of honor, right alongside God. When you find yourselves flagging in your faith, go over that story again, item by item, that long litany of hostility he plowed through. That will shoot adrenaline into your souls!

4-11 In this all-out match against sin, others have suffered far worse than you, to say nothing of what Jesus went through—all that bloodshed! So don’t feel sorry for yourselves. Or have you forgotten how good parents treat children, and that God regards you as his children?

My dear child, don’t shrug off God’s discipline,
    but don’t be crushed by it either.
It’s the child he loves that he disciplines;
    the child he embraces, he also corrects.

God is educating you; that’s why you must never drop out. He’s treating you as dear children. This trouble you’re in isn’t punishment; it’s training, the normal experience of children. Only irresponsible parents leave children to fend for themselves. Would you prefer an irresponsible God? We respect our own parents for training and not spoiling us, so why not embrace God’s training so we can truly live? While we were children, our parents did what seemed best to them. But God is doing what is best for us, training us to live God’s holy best. At the time, discipline isn’t much fun. It always feels like it’s going against the grain. Later, of course, it pays off handsomely, for it’s the well-trained who find themselves mature in their relationship with God.

12-13 So don’t sit around on your hands! No more dragging your feet! Clear the path for long-distance runners so no one will trip and fall, so no one will step in a hole and sprain an ankle. Help each other out. And run for it!

14-17 Work at getting along with each other and with God. Otherwise you’ll never get so much as a glimpse of God. Make sure no one gets left out of God’s generosity. Keep a sharp eye out for weeds of bitter discontent. A thistle or two gone to seed can ruin a whole garden in no time. Watch out for the Esau syndrome: trading away God’s lifelong gift in order to satisfy a short-term appetite. You well know how Esau later regretted that impulsive act and wanted God’s blessing—but by then it was too late, tears or no tears.

An Unshakable Kingdom
18-21 Unlike your ancestors, you didn’t come to Mount Sinai—all that volcanic blaze and earthshaking rumble—to hear God speak. The earsplitting words and soul-shaking message terrified them and they begged him to stop. When they heard the words—“If an animal touches the Mountain, it’s as good as dead”—they were afraid to move. Even Moses was terrified.

22-24 No, that’s not your experience at all. You’ve come to Mount Zion, the city where the living God resides. The invisible Jerusalem is populated by throngs of festive angels and Christian citizens. It is the city where God is Judge, with judgments that make us just. You’ve come to Jesus, who presents us with a new covenant, a fresh charter from God. He is the Mediator of this covenant. The murder of Jesus, unlike Abel’s—a homicide that cried out for vengeance—became a proclamation of grace.

25-27 So don’t turn a deaf ear to these gracious words. If those who ignored earthly warnings didn’t get away with it, what will happen to us if we turn our backs on heavenly warnings? His voice that time shook the earth to its foundations; this time—he’s told us this quite plainly—he’ll also rock the heavens: “One last shaking, from top to bottom, stem to stern.” The phrase “one last shaking” means a thorough housecleaning, getting rid of all the historical and religious junk so that the unshakable essentials stand clear and uncluttered.

28-29 Do you see what we’ve got? An unshakable kingdom! And do you see how thankful we must be? Not only thankful, but brimming with worship, deeply reverent before God. For God is not an indifferent bystander. He’s actively cleaning house, torching all that needs to burn, and he won’t quit until it’s all cleansed. God himself is Fire!

Sunday, October 18, 2020
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion   
Today's Scripture & Insight:

Isaiah 55:1–7

Invitation to the Thirsty

“Come, all you who are thirsty,
    come to the waters;
and you who have no money,
    come, buy and eat!
Come, buy wine and milk
    without money and without cost.
2 Why spend money on what is not bread,
    and your labor on what does not satisfy?
Listen, listen to me, and eat what is good,
    and you will delight in the richest of fare.
3 Give ear and come to me;
    listen, that you may live.
I will make an everlasting covenant with you,
    my faithful love promised to David.
4 See, I have made him a witness to the peoples,
    a ruler and commander of the peoples.
5 Surely you will summon nations you know not,
    and nations you do not know will come running to you,
because of the Lord your God,
    the Holy One of Israel,
    for he has endowed you with splendor.”

6 Seek the Lord while he may be found;
    call on him while he is near.
7 Let the wicked forsake their ways
    and the unrighteous their thoughts.
Let them turn to the Lord, and he will have mercy on them,
    and to our God, for he will freely pardon.

Insight
Having one’s thirst quenched and being satisfied with fine food are metaphors for the blessings that will flow from God’s covenant with David. We share in these blessings through Jesus Christ, the Son of David, who fulfilled God’s promise to David of an eternal dynasty through his descendant (2 Samuel 7:12–16). Through David and his descendant—Jesus—God would give an endless “witness” to the world that Yahweh is “the Holy One of Israel” (Isaiah 55:4–5). The church is later described as such a witness (Acts 1:8).

Listening Beyond the Stars
Seek the Lord while he may be found. Isaiah 55:6

Imagine life without mobile phones, Wi-Fi, GPS, Bluetooth devices, or microwave ovens. That’s the way it is in the little town of Green Bank, West Virginia, known as “the quietest town in America.” It’s also the location of the Green Bank Observatory, the world’s largest steerable radio telescope. The telescope needs “quiet” to “listen” to naturally occurring radio waves emitted by the movement of pulsars and galaxies in deep space. It has a surface area larger than a football field and stands in the center of the National Radio Quiet Zone, a 13,000-square-mile area established to prevent electronic interference to the telescope’s extreme sensitivity.

This intentional quiet enables scientists to hear “the music of the spheres.” It also reminds me of our need to quiet ourselves enough to listen to the One who created the universe. God communicated to a wayward and distracted people through the prophet Isaiah, “Give ear and come to me; listen, that you may live. I will make an everlasting covenant with you” (Isaiah 55:3). God promises His faithful love to all who will seek Him and turn to Him for forgiveness.

We listen intentionally to God by turning from our distractions to meet Him in Scripture and in prayer. God isn’t distant. He longs for us to make time for Him so He can be the priority of our daily lives and then for eternity. By:  James Banks

Reflect & Pray
Why is listening to God so vital in your life? In what ways do you plan to take time for Him?

Help me to be quiet before You today, loving God, even if it’s only for a moment! Nothing matters more than being with You!

My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Sunday, October 18, 2020
The Key to the Missionary’s Devotion

…they went forth for His name’s sake… —3 John 7

Our Lord told us how our love for Him is to exhibit itself when He asked, “Do you love Me?” (John 21:17). And then He said, “Feed My sheep.” In effect, He said, “Identify yourself with My interests in other people,” not, “Identify Me with your interests in other people.” 1 Corinthians 13:4-8 shows us the characteristics of this love— it is actually the love of God expressing itself. The true test of my love for Jesus is a very practical one, and all the rest is sentimental talk.

Faithfulness to Jesus Christ is the supernatural work of redemption that has been performed in me by the Holy Spirit— “the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit…” (Romans 5:5). And it is that love in me that effectively works through me and comes in contact with everyone I meet. I remain faithful to His name, even though the commonsense view of my life may seemingly deny that, and may appear to be declaring that He has no more power than the morning mist.

The key to the missionary’s devotion is that he is attached to nothing and to no one except our Lord Himself. It does not mean simply being detached from the external things surrounding us. Our Lord was amazingly in touch with the ordinary things of life, but He had an inner detachment except toward God. External detachment is often an actual indication of a secret, growing, inner attachment to the things we stay away from externally.

The duty of a faithful missionary is to concentrate on keeping his soul completely and continually open to the nature of the Lord Jesus Christ. The men and women our Lord sends out on His endeavors are ordinary human people, but people who are controlled by their devotion to Him, which has been brought about through the work of the Holy Spirit.

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: Isaiah 53-55; 2 Thessalonians 1

Lamentations 2, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals

Max Lucado Daily: God Chats in the Closet

Religious leaders loved to make theater out of their prayers. The show nauseated Jesus. In Matthew 6:6 He said, "When you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father who cannot be seen. Your Father can see what is done in secret, and He will reward you."
The words surely stunned Jesus' audience. The people were simple farmers and stonemasons. They couldn't enter the temple. But they could enter their closets. The point? He is low on fancy, high on accessibility. You need not woo him with location! Or wow him with eloquence. It's the power of a simple prayer.
Join me every day for 4 weeks, to pray 4 minutes, a simple prayer. Sign on at BeforeAmen.com. Then get ready to connect with God like never before!
Before Amen

Lamentations 2

God Walked Away from His Holy Temple

Oh, oh, oh . . .
How the Master has cut down Daughter Zion
    from the skies, dashed Israel’s glorious city to earth,
    in his anger treated his favorite as throwaway junk.

2 The Master, without a second thought, took Israel in one gulp.
    Raging, he smashed Judah’s defenses,
    made hash of her king and princes.

3 His anger blazing, he knocked Israel flat,
    broke Israel’s arm and turned his back just as the enemy approached,
    came on Jacob like a wildfire from every direction.

4 Like an enemy, he aimed his bow, bared his sword,
    and killed our young men, our pride and joy.
    His anger, like fire, burned down the homes in Zion.

5 The Master became the enemy. He had Israel for supper.
    He chewed up and spit out all the defenses.
    He left Daughter Judah moaning and groaning.

6 He plowed up his old trysting place, trashed his favorite rendezvous.
    God wiped out Zion’s memories of feast days and Sabbaths,
    angrily sacked king and priest alike.

7 God abandoned his altar, walked away from his holy Temple
    and turned the fortifications over to the enemy.
    As they cheered in God’s Temple, you’d have thought it was a feast day!

8 God drew up plans to tear down the walls of Daughter Zion.
    He assembled his crew, set to work and went at it.
    Total demolition! The stones wept!

9 Her city gates, iron bars and all, disappeared in the rubble:
    her kings and princes off to exile—no one left to instruct or lead;
    her prophets useless—they neither saw nor heard anything from God.

10 The elders of Daughter Zion sit silent on the ground.
    They throw dust on their heads, dress in rough penitential burlap—
    the young virgins of Jerusalem, their faces creased with the dirt.

11 My eyes are blind with tears, my stomach in a knot.
    My insides have turned to jelly over my people’s fate.
    Babies and children are fainting all over the place,

12 Calling to their mothers, “I’m hungry! I’m thirsty!”
    then fainting like dying soldiers in the streets,
    breathing their last in their mothers’ laps.

13 How can I understand your plight, dear Jerusalem?
    What can I say to give you comfort, dear Zion?
    Who can put you together again? This bust-up is past understanding.

14 Your prophets courted you with sweet talk.
    They didn’t face you with your sin so that you could repent.
    Their sermons were all wishful thinking, deceptive illusions.

15 Astonished, passersby can’t believe what they see.
    They rub their eyes, they shake their heads over Jerusalem.
    Is this the city voted “Most Beautiful” and “Best Place to Live”?

16 But now your enemies gape, slack-jawed.
    Then they rub their hands in glee: “We’ve got them!
    We’ve been waiting for this! Here it is!”

17 God did carry out, item by item, exactly what he said he’d do.
    He always said he’d do this. Now he’s done it—torn the place down.
    He’s let your enemies walk all over you, declared them world champions!

18 Give out heart-cries to the Master, dear repentant Zion.
    Let the tears roll like a river, day and night,
    and keep at it—no time-outs. Keep those tears flowing!

19 As each night watch begins, get up and cry out in prayer.
    Pour your heart out face-to-face with the Master.
    Lift high your hands. Beg for the lives of your children
    who are starving to death out on the streets.

20 “Look at us, God. Think it over. Have you ever treated anyone like this?
    Should women eat their own babies, the very children they raised?
    Should priests and prophets be murdered in the Master’s own Sanctuary?

21 “Boys and old men lie in the gutters of the streets,
    my young men and women killed in their prime.
    Angry, you killed them in cold blood, cut them down without mercy.

22 “You invited, like friends to a party, men to swoop down in attack
    so that on the big day of God’s wrath no one would get away.
    The children I loved and reared—gone, gone, gone.”

Our Daily Bread reading and devotion    
Saturday, October 17, 2020
Today's Scripture & Insight:

Psalm 95:1–7

Come, let us sing for joy to the Lord;
    let us shout aloud to the Rock of our salvation.
2 Let us come before him with thanksgiving
    and extol him with music and song.

3 For the Lord is the great God,
    the great King above all gods.
4 In his hand are the depths of the earth,
    and the mountain peaks belong to him.
5 The sea is his, for he made it,
    and his hands formed the dry land.

6 Come, let us bow down in worship,
    let us kneel before the Lord our Maker;
7 for he is our God
    and we are the people of his pasture,
    the flock under his care.

Today, if only you would hear his voice,

Insight
Psalm 95 belongs to a group of psalms called “enthronement psalms” or “royal psalms” because they use the royal image of a king celebrating and declaring God’s sovereign reign over all creation and over all history. Other examples of enthronement psalms are Psalms 47, 93, 96–99. The royal psalms include such statements as “the Lord Most High is awesome, the great King over all the earth” (47:2); His “throne was established long ago . . . from all eternity” (93:2); “the Lord is the great God, the great King above all gods” (95:3).

Psalm 95 is easily outlined into two parts: a call to worship God as King (vv. 1–7a) and a warning not to reject Him as King (vv. 7b–11). In his warning, the psalmist draws from the Israelites’ history of rebellion against and lack of faith in God at Meribah and Massah (v. 8; see Exodus 17:1–7). The writer of Hebrews had Psalm 95 in view when he wrote Hebrews 3:7–11.

A Singer’s Heart
Come, let us sing for joy to the Lord; let us shout aloud to the Rock of our salvation. Psalm 95:1

The praise song drifted downstairs . . . at 6:33 on a Saturday morning. I didn’t think anyone else was awake, but my youngest daughter’s scratchy voice proved me wrong. She was barely conscious, but there was already a song on her lips.

My youngest is a singer. In fact, she can’t not sing. She sings when she wakes up. When she goes to school. When she goes to bed. She was born with a song in her heart—and most of the time, her songs focus on Jesus. She’ll praise God anytime, anywhere.

I love the simplicity, devotion, and earnestness of my daughter’s voice. Her spontaneous and joyful songs echo invitations to praise God found throughout Scripture. In Psalm 95, we read, “Come let us sing for joy to the Lord; let us shout aloud to the Rock of our salvation” (v. 1). Reading further, we learn that this praise flows from an understanding of who He is (“For the Lord is the great God, the great King above all gods,” v. 3)—and whose we are (“For he is our God and we are the people of his pasture,” v. 7).

For my daughter, those truths are her first thought in the morning. By God’s grace, this little worshiper offers us a profound reminder of the joy of singing to Him.  By:  Adam R. Holz

Reflect & Pray
What prompts you to praise God for His faithfulness to you? What songs help you to remember and focus on His character and goodness?

God, thank You for who You are and for what You’ve done for me—and for all Your people—by inviting us to be sheep in Your pasture. Let today be filled with my songs of praise for Your goodness.

My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Saturday, October 17, 2020
The Key of the Greater Work

…I say to you, he who believes in Me,…greater works than these he will do, because I go to My Father. —John 14:12

Prayer does not equip us for greater works— prayer is the greater work. Yet we think of prayer as some commonsense exercise of our higher powers that simply prepares us for God’s work. In the teachings of Jesus Christ, prayer is the working of the miracle of redemption in me, which produces the miracle of redemption in others, through the power of God. The way fruit remains firm is through prayer, but remember that it is prayer based on the agony of Christ in redemption, not on my own agony. We must go to God as His child, because only a child gets his prayers answered; a “wise” man does not (see Matthew 11:25).

Prayer is the battle, and it makes no difference where you are. However God may engineer your circumstances, your duty is to pray. Never allow yourself this thought, “I am of no use where I am,” because you certainly cannot be used where you have not yet been placed. Wherever God has placed you and whatever your circumstances, you should pray, continually offering up prayers to Him. And He promises, “Whatever you ask in My name, that I will do…” (John 14:13). Yet we refuse to pray unless it thrills or excites us, which is the most intense form of spiritual selfishness. We must learn to work according to God’s direction, and He says to pray. “Pray the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest” (Matthew 9:38).

There is nothing thrilling about a laboring person’s work, but it is the laboring person who makes the ideas of the genius possible. And it is the laboring saint who makes the ideas of his Master possible. When you labor at prayer, from God’s perspective there are always results. What an astonishment it will be to see, once the veil is finally lifted, all the souls that have been reaped by you, simply because you have been in the habit of taking your orders from Jesus Christ.

WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS

Jesus Christ can afford to be misunderstood; we cannot. Our weakness lies in always wanting to vindicate ourselves.  The Place of Help, 1051 L

Bible in a Year: Isaiah 50-52; 1 Thessalonians 5