Genesis 35, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals

Max Lucado Daily: THE SNAP OF A FINGER - May 7, 2025

Suppose I invited you to experience the day of your dreams. Twenty-four hours on an island paradise with your favorite people, food, and activities. The only stipulation? You’ll need to begin the day with one millisecond of distress. Would you accept my offer? I think you would. A moment is nothing compared to twenty-four hours. Compared to eternity, what is seventy, eighty, ninety years? A finger snap compared to heaven.

We point to our sick child, crutches, or famine. “This makes no sense!” Yet of all of his creation, how much have we seen? Of all his work, how much do we understand? A doorway peephole. What if God’s answer to the question of suffering requires more megabytes than our puny minds have been given? Let God finish his work. The forecast is simple. We have some good days, we have some bad days, but God is in all days.

You'll Get Through This: Hope and Help for Turbulent Times

Genesis 35

God spoke to Jacob: “Go back to Bethel. Stay there and build an altar to the God who revealed himself to you when you were running for your life from your brother Esau.”

2–3  Jacob told his family and all those who lived with him, “Throw out all the alien gods which you have, take a good bath and put on clean clothes, we’re going to Bethel. I’m going to build an altar there to the God who answered me when I was in trouble and has stuck with me everywhere I’ve gone since.”

4–5  They turned over to Jacob all the alien gods they’d been holding on to, along with their lucky-charm earrings. Jacob buried them under the oak tree in Shechem. Then they set out. A paralyzing fear descended on all the surrounding villages so that they were unable to pursue the sons of Jacob.

6–7  Jacob and his company arrived at Luz, that is, Bethel, in the land of Canaan. He built an altar there and named it El-Bethel (God-of-Bethel) because that’s where God revealed himself to him when he was running from his brother.

8  And that’s when Rebekah’s nurse, Deborah, died. She was buried just below Bethel under the oak tree. It was named Allon-Bacuth (Weeping-Oak).

9–10  God revealed himself once again to Jacob, after he had come back from Paddan Aram and blessed him: “Your name is Jacob (Heel); but that’s your name no longer. From now on your name is Israel (God-Wrestler).”

11–12  God continued,

I am The Strong God.

Have children! Flourish!

A nation—a whole company of nations!—

will come from you.

Kings will come from your loins;

the land I gave Abraham and Isaac

I now give to you,

and pass it on to your descendants.

13  And then God was gone, ascended from the place where he had spoken with him.

14–15  Jacob set up a stone pillar on the spot where God had spoken with him. He poured a drink offering on it and anointed it with oil. Jacob dedicated the place where God had spoken with him, Bethel (God’s-House).

16–17  They left Bethel. They were still quite a ways from Ephrath when Rachel went into labor—hard, hard labor. When her labor pains were at their worst, the midwife said to her, “Don’t be afraid—you have another boy.”

18  With her last breath, for she was now dying, she named him Ben-oni (Son-of-My-Pain), but his father named him Ben-jamin (Son-of-Good-Fortune).

19–20  Rachel died and was buried on the road to Ephrath, that is, Bethlehem. Jacob set up a pillar to mark her grave. It is still there today, “Rachel’s Grave Stone.”

21–22  Israel kept on his way and set up camp at Migdal Eder. While Israel was living in that region, Reuben went and slept with his father’s concubine, Bilhah. And Israel heard of what he did.

22–26  There were twelve sons of Jacob.

The sons by Leah:

Reuben, Jacob’s firstborn

Simeon

Levi

Judah

Issachar

Zebulun.

The sons by Rachel:

Joseph

Ben-jamin.

The sons by Bilhah, Rachel’s maid:

Dan

Naphtali.

The sons by Zilpah, Leah’s maid:

Gad

Asher.

These were Jacob’s sons, born to him in Paddan Aram.

27–29  Finally, Jacob made it back home to his father Isaac at Mamre in Kiriath Arba, present-day Hebron, where Abraham and Isaac had lived. Isaac was now 180 years old. Isaac breathed his last and died—an old man full of years. He was buried with his family by his sons Esau and Jacob.

Our Daily Bread reading and devotion

Wednesday, May 07, 2025

by Dave Branon

TODAY'S SCRIPTURE

2 Samuel 9:1-10

An Open Table for Mephibosheth

1  9 One day David asked, “Is there anyone left of Saul’s family? If so, I’d like to show him some kindness in honor of Jonathan.”

2  It happened that a servant from Saul’s household named Ziba was there. They called him into David’s presence. The king asked him, “Are you Ziba?”

“Yes sir,” he replied.

3  The king asked, “Is there anyone left from the family of Saul to whom I can show some godly kindness?”

Ziba told the king, “Yes, there is Jonathan’s son, lame in both feet.”

4  “Where is he?”

“He’s living at the home of Makir son of Ammiel in Lo Debar.”

5  King David didn’t lose a minute. He sent and got him from the home of Makir son of Ammiel in Lo Debar.

6  When Mephibosheth son of Jonathan (who was the son of Saul), came before David, he bowed deeply, abasing himself, honoring David.

David spoke his name: “Mephibosheth.”

“Yes sir?”

7  “Don’t be frightened,” said David. “I’d like to do something special for you in memory of your father Jonathan. To begin with, I’m returning to you all the properties of your grandfather Saul. Furthermore, from now on you’ll take all your meals at my table.”

8  Shuffling and stammering, not looking him in the eye, Mephibosheth said, “Who am I that you pay attention to a stray dog like me?”

9–10  David then called in Ziba, Saul’s right-hand man, and told him, “Everything that belonged to Saul and his family, I’ve handed over to your master’s grandson. You and your sons and your servants will work his land and bring in the produce, provisions for your master’s grandson. Mephibosheth himself, your master’s grandson, from now on will take all his meals at my table.” Ziba had fifteen sons and twenty servants.

Today's Insights

David asked whether there was anyone left in Saul’s household (the former king) to whom he could “show God’s kindness” (2 Samuel 9:3) for the sake of his friend Jonathan, Saul’s son. The word translated “kindness” is the Hebrew word hesed, which is often used to describe God’s steadfast love and faithfulness to fulfill covenant promises to His people. In this context, David shows hesed, or covenant faithfulness, by keeping the covenant promises he’d made with his friend Jonathan (1 Samuel 18:3; 20:42; 23:18, 24:21-22). David’s kindness demonstrated his integrity as a king. May God help us to show kindness to others.

Loving Others in Jesus

You will always eat at my table. 2 Samuel 9:7

There’s a new game in high school sports, and it’s one of the most uplifting things you’ll ever experience.

It has many of the same elements of a game known for cheering fans, referees, and a scoreboard. But there’s an essential twist: Each five-person team on the court consists of two nondisabled players and three players who have some form of disability. The activity on the court is heartwarming as players assist, encourage, and cheer for each other—no matter what team they’re on. The game is all about lifting up students who wouldn’t otherwise experience the joy of competitive sports.

It takes deliberate, wise leadership for schools to honor students in this way. And their efforts reflect an example set for us in Scripture by King David.

A common saying in David’s day was that “the ‘blind and lame’ will not enter the palace” (2 Samuel 5:8)—used metaphorically in reference to his enemies. David, however, did choose to take Jonathan’s son Mephibosheth, who had two lame feet, into his palace and honor him with a place to “eat at [his] table” (9:7).

Paul presents a clear guideline for how we’re to treat others. “Love each other with genuine affection, and take delight in honoring each other” (Romans 12:10 nlt).

Let’s practice unified living—making sure to honor, in Jesus’ love, everyone we encounter.

Reflect & Pray

How can you encourage the people in your sphere of influence? What does it mean for you to show honor to others?

Dear God, please help me show grace and kindness toward those who need my love and assistance.

Learn how to invite others into God's freedom by reading That Skill.

My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers

Wednesday, May 07, 2025

Building for Eternity

Suppose one of you wants to build a tower. Won’t you first sit down and estimate the cost to see if you have enough money to complete it? — Luke 14:28

In Luke 14:26–33, our Lord isn’t referring to a cost we need to plan for; he’s referring to a cost he planned for, for our sake. What did it cost Jesus to redeem the world? Thirty years in Nazareth; three years of popularity, scandal, and hatred; the deep, unfathomable agony in Gethsemane; and, finally, the onslaught at Calvary—the pivot upon which the whole of time and eternity turns. Jesus Christ planned for this cost, so that in the final reckoning no one could say of him, “This person began to build and wasn’t able to finish” (v. 30).

Have you anticipated the cost of discipleship? Jesus states the cost clearly: “If anyone comes to me and does not hate father and mother … such a person cannot be my disciple” (v. 26). The only people the Lord will use in his mighty building projects are those who have been entirely remade by him: men and women who love him personally, passionately, and devotedly, above any of their closest family or friends on earth. His conditions are stern, but they are glorious.

Everything we build will be inspected by God. Will he find that we have built something of our own on the foundation of Jesus, something for our selfish gain? These are days of tremendous enterprises, days when many people are striving mightily to work for God—and therein lies the trap. We can never work for God. We can only give ourselves to Jesus and let him take us over for his work. We have no right to dictate to our Lord where we will be placed or what we will do.

2 Kings 1-3; Luke 24:1-35

WISDOM FROM OSWALD

Seeing is never believing: we interpret what we see in the light of what we believe. Faith is confidence in God before you see God emerging; therefore the nature of faith is that it must be tried.

He Shall Glorify Me, 494 R

A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft

Wednesday, May 07, 2025

THE MESSAGE FROM YOUR MOUTH - #9998

One summer our daughter had the privilege of participating in a musical team that traveled to the Philippines. One of the highlights for them while they were there was to sing the Gospel on national television. They actually went into one of the big television stations to do it.

Two weeks later she was back home, starting back to college, and she heard on the news there had been a coup attempt against the government. And guess what was the first thing the rebels captured? Uh-huh, the TV station that she'd been singing at only two weeks before. You kind of wipe your brow and go, "Whew! That is too close!" It happens every time there is a rebellion there. They want to capture the TV and radio facilities. Well, it happens in many countries when a government's being toppled. They want the transmitter. That's a military principle to always capture the high ground; that's the first thing you do in a battle. Capture the high ground and move out from there. Today the high ground means the battle is for the transmitter...even in your life.

I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want A Word With You today about "The Message From Your Mouth."

Now, our word for today from the Word of God is coming from James 1:26. Here's what it says, "If anyone considers himself religious and yet does not keep a tight reign on his tongue, he deceives himself and his religion is worthless." Wow! Later in chapter 3, verse 2, it says, "If anyone is never at fault in what he says, he is a perfect man, able to keep his whole body in check." Huh! Verse 6: "The tongue is a fire; a world of evil among the parts of the body. It corrupts the whole person, sets the whole course of his life on fire, and is itself set on fire by hell." Man, this is some of the strongest language in the Bible. Verse 8 in chapter 3 of James says, "No man can tame the tongue." Wow!

The tongue is your transmitter. In the military, if they want to capture a whole piece of ground, they go for the transmitter. It's that way in the conquest of your life too. More sinning is done by our mouth, I believe, than any other part of our body.

Right now I think the battle for Christ to truly rule your life and mine may revolve around this question: does Jesus govern your tongue? Oh, you may be busy for the Lord, you may be very orthodox in your beliefs and pretty moral in your relationships, but what's today's talk like?

If we played back a recording of one day's conversation, how much complaining would there be? How much cutting other people down? How much negativity? Would there be a lot of criticizing, backbiting? Would there be some suggestive, double-meaning talk? Would there be some ethnic or religious slurs?

The people you live with probably know best how much Christ is your Lord, because they hear you when you're tired, angry, and when you're under pressure. Maybe it's time to move the front lines of your spiritual battle to the point that really counts; making Jesus Christ so real that He becomes the Master of your mouth.

All day long you're transmitting to the people around you. Does it sound like Jesus? When you have surrendered the transmitter to Christ, then He is really in charge.

Genesis 34, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals

Max Lucado Daily: THE DEFINITIVE GOODNESS OF GOD - May 6, 2025

At some point, we all stand at this intersection: Is God good when the outcome is not? The definitive to the goodness of God comes in the person of Jesus Christ. He’s the only picture of God ever taken. He pressed his fingers into the sore of the leper. He inclined his ear to the cry of the hungry. He didn’t retreat at the sight of pain. Just the opposite. Cruel accusations of jealous men? Jesus knows their sting.

Is it possible that the wonder of heaven will make the most difficult life a good bargain? This was Paul’s opinion. He said, “Our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all” (2 Corinthians 4:17 NIV). Your pain won’t last forever my friend, but you will. Whatever we go through now is less than nothing compared with the magnificent future God has planned for us. You’ll get through this! God is good, even when the outcome is difficult. Hang on to this promise.

You'll Get Through This: Hope and Help for Turbulent Times

Genesis 34

One day Dinah, the daughter Leah had given Jacob, went to visit some of the women in that country. Shechem, the son of Hamor the Hivite who was chieftain there, saw her and raped her. Then he felt a strong attraction to Dinah, Jacob’s daughter, fell in love with her, and wooed her. Shechem went to his father Hamor, “Get me this girl for my wife.”

5–7  Jacob heard that Shechem had raped his daughter Dinah, but his sons were out in the fields with the livestock so he didn’t say anything until they got home. Hamor, Shechem’s father, went to Jacob to work out marriage arrangements. Meanwhile Jacob’s sons on their way back from the fields heard what had happened. They were outraged, explosive with anger. Shechem’s rape of Jacob’s daughter was intolerable in Israel and not to be put up with.

8–10  Hamor spoke with Jacob and his sons, “My son Shechem is head over heels in love with your daughter—give her to him as his wife. Intermarry with us. Give your daughters to us and we’ll give our daughters to you. Live together with us as one family. Settle down among us and make yourselves at home. Prosper among us.”

11–12  Shechem then spoke for himself, addressing Dinah’s father and brothers: “Please, say yes. I’ll pay anything. Set the bridal price as high as you will—the sky’s the limit! Only give me this girl for my wife.”

13–17  Jacob’s sons answered Shechem and his father with cunning. Their sister, after all, had been raped. They said, “This is impossible. We could never give our sister to a man who was uncircumcised. Why, we’d be disgraced. The only condition on which we can talk business is if all your men become circumcised like us. Then we will freely exchange daughters in marriage and make ourselves at home among you and become one big, happy family. But if this is not an acceptable condition, we will take our sister and leave.”

18  That seemed fair enough to Hamor and his son Shechem.

19  The young man was so smitten with Jacob’s daughter that he proceeded to do what had been asked. He was also the most admired son in his father’s family.

20–23  So Hamor and his son Shechem went to the public square and spoke to the town council: “These men like us; they are our friends. Let them settle down here and make themselves at home; there’s plenty of room in the country for them. And, just think, we can even exchange our daughters in marriage. But these men will only accept our invitation to live with us and become one big family on one condition, that all our males become circumcised just as they themselves are. This is a very good deal for us—these people are very wealthy with great herds of livestock and we’re going to get our hands on it. So let’s do what they ask and have them settle down with us.”

24  Everyone who was anyone in the city agreed with Hamor and his son, Shechem; every male was circumcised.

25–29  Three days after the circumcision, while all the men were still very sore, two of Jacob’s sons, Simeon and Levi, Dinah’s brothers, each with his sword in hand, walked into the city as if they owned the place and murdered every man there. They also killed Hamor and his son Shechem, rescued Dinah from Shechem’s house, and left. When the rest of Jacob’s sons came on the scene of slaughter, they looted the entire city in retaliation for Dinah’s rape. Flocks, herds, donkeys, belongings—everything, whether in the city or the fields—they took. And then they took all the wives and children captive and ransacked their homes for anything valuable.

30  Jacob said to Simeon and Levi, “You’ve made my name stink to high heaven among the people here, these Canaanites and Perizzites. If they decided to gang up on us and attack, as few as we are we wouldn’t stand a chance; they’d wipe me and my people right off the map.”

31  They said, “Nobody is going to treat our sister like a whore and get by with it.”

Our Daily Bread reading and devotion

Tuesday, May 06, 2025

by 

Kirsten Holmberg

TODAY'S SCRIPTURE

Luke 14:7-11

Invite the Misfits

7–9  He went on to tell a story to the guests around the table. Noticing how each had tried to elbow into the place of honor, he said, “When someone invites you to dinner, don’t take the place of honor. Somebody more important than you might have been invited by the host. Then he’ll come and call out in front of everybody, ‘You’re in the wrong place. The place of honor belongs to this man.’ Red-faced, you’ll have to make your way to the very last table, the only place left.

10–11  “When you’re invited to dinner, go and sit at the last place. Then when the host comes he may very well say, ‘Friend, come up to the front.’ That will give the dinner guests something to talk about! What I’m saying is, If you walk around with your nose in the air, you’re going to end up flat on your face. But if you’re content to be simply yourself, you will become more than yourself.”

Today's Insights

Jesus’ countercultural approach to honor in Luke 14:7-11 wasn’t a new concept for His audience. They were familiar with David, who as the youngest of his brothers became king over Israel. Before him was Gideon, whose family was poor and his tribe’s weakest clan. Yet Gideon liberated Israel from their oppressors. And before him was Joseph, the eleventh son of Jacob, who became the savior of his family in Egypt—a family that was, itself, the youngest nation in a world already populated by many others (Deuteronomy 7:1). Yet this chosen nation was honored to be a light to the rest of the world (4:5-8).

In Luke, Christ reminded His listeners of a principle woven throughout Scripture—God promotes the last, least, and unlikely to showcase His glory and goodness. It’s the nature of God’s upside-down kingdom (1 Corinthians 1:26-29). And it’s at the very heart of the gospel (Matthew 20:28).

Humble Honor

All those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted. Luke 14:11

As an elementary school teacher, my friend often escorted her students to various other classrooms for subjects such as music or art. When asked to line up to make their way to another room, the fifth-grade students would jockey for position, some scrambling for the coveted spot at the head of the line. One day, Jenni surprised them by having everyone turn around and leading them from what had been—just seconds before—the end of the line. Their shock was audible: “Whaaattt?”

When Jesus observed similar jockeying for position at a dinner table, He responded by telling a parable that undoubtedly surprised His fellow guests. Using a story about a wedding feast, He instructed them to “not take the place of honor” but instead “take the lowest place” (Luke 14:8-10). Christ confounded their social norms by saying that “all those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted” (v. 11).

This kingdom principle can be a difficult one to adopt, especially because our human temptation will be to still focus on “winning” somehow—choosing the last position now so we'll be first later. But Jesus urges us to follow His example and look to Him for help in reorienting our thinking to see being humble, last, and lowly as truly being in the place of honor.

Reflect & Pray

Who in your life embodies the kind of humility Jesus calls us to? When do you struggle to surrender your own place of honor?

Please help me, Jesus, to show humility in all circumstances.

God calls us to show mercy to others as He has shown mercy to us. Learn more here.

My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers

Tuesday, May 06, 2025

Freedom through Christ

It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery. — Galatians 5:1

Spiritually-minded people will never demand that you believe a certain thing or hold a certain opinion; they’ll demand that you square your life with the standards of Jesus. We aren’t asked to believe the Bible; we are asked to believe the One the Bible reveals. In John 5, Jesus highlights the difference: “You study the Scriptures diligently … yet you refuse to come to me to have life” (vv. 39–40). Jesus is calling us to liberty of conscience, not liberty of opinion. If we are free with the freedom of Christ, others will be brought into this same freedom: the freedom of realizing the dominance of Jesus Christ.

Always measure your life by the standards of Jesus. Bow to his yoke and to no other, and be careful that you never fasten a yoke on someone else that isn’t placed there by Jesus Christ. It takes God a long time to cure us of the idea that if people don’t see things the way we do, they must be wrong. That is never God’s view. There is only one freedom: the freedom of Jesus at work in our conscience, enabling us to do what is right.

Don’t get impatient with others. Remember how God has dealt with you, with patience and gentleness. This doesn’t mean you should water down God’s truth. Let his truth have its way, and never apologize for it. Simply recall what Jesus said: “Go and make disciples” (Matthew 28:19). He never said, “Make converts to your opinions.”

1 Kings 21-22; Luke 23:26-56

WISDOM FROM OSWALD

We are not to preach the doing of good things; good deeds are not to be preached, they are to be performed.

So Send I You, 1330 L

A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft

Tuesday, May 06, 2025

Miraculously Changed - #9997

Lori Piestewa was the first woman killed in the Iraq war. She was a Native American and a single mom with two children. She died in an Iraqi ambush, and her good friend Jessica Lynch was wounded, captured and rescued. You might remember that. She was determined to help fulfill Lori Piestewa's dream - to have a house for her parents and her children. Jessica Lynch contacted the TV program, "Extreme Makeover," to see if they could make it happen. Their popular program showed them doing amazing makeovers of people's homes in a very short time, re-creating them into houses that were far beyond anything the owner's ever dreamed. They did it again for a war hero's family, moving them from their deteriorating trailer home into a wonderful new home. Given the good TV ratings of the show, apparently a lot of people loved to watch those amazing transformations.

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

Bill Carroll was a hopeless alcoholic - since someone got him hooked at the age of ten. He moved from lost job to lost job, from jail to jail, from one desperate measure after another to meet his need for alcohol. One day a fellow prisoner recommended a remedy for the shakes that Bill had developed - cocaine. Bill Carroll actually ended up digging the gold fillings out of his teeth to pay for that cocaine.

Ultimately, he decided this life wasn't even worth living anymore. He was headed to Lake Michigan in Chicago to end his life. But as he walked by a rescue mission, he heard a song about Jesus that his mother had sung to him. He wandered into the meeting and he heard the liberating news about how Jesus Christ can forgive your sin and change a life. He went into that mission hopelessly addicted. He came out with an extreme makeover from the inside out. From that day, he never again had the slightest desire to touch the alcohol or the drugs that had ruled most of his life. And oh, how grateful I am because Bill Carroll was my wife's grandfather, who was here for me to love because of the makeover miracle by Jesus Christ.

For 2,000 years, the Carpenter of Nazareth has been transforming lives. Not reforming - transforming. In the words of 2 Corinthians 5:17, our word for today from the Word of God, "If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!" It's a spiritual makeover from the inside out that only one man can accomplish - Jesus Christ, the man who died to cancel your sin and who came back from the dead with the power to give you a new life. It's not something a religion can do - any religion. Because religion tries to make us over from the outside in as we comply with its rules. What Jesus offers is a personal relationship with Him where He comes into your soul with life-changing power.

Without Him, I'd be the selfish only child who cares only about me. But He's changing me. He's given me the great joy of living for others instead of myself. He turns greedy people into generous people. He tames a temper that has inflicted so much hurt. He breaks the power of those dark things that have controlled you.

But you have to want Him in your life...driving your life...changing your life. While you've probably known about Jesus for a long time, maybe you've never given yourself to this man who gave His life for you. The good news is that you don't have to spend one more day without Him, without this life-transforming miracle. It can be today. Tell Him, "Jesus, I believe Your death was for my sin. I want that new beginning from You, I'm Yours."

Listen, go to our website today and there you'll find the information to be sure you belong to Him. It's ANewStory.com.

There's power in that cross of Jesus to transform you into the person you want to be, that you need to be, that the people you love need for you to be. He's been doing extreme makeovers for a long time. He wants to do it for you. Actually, He died to do it for you.

Genesis 33, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals

Max Lucado Daily: IN ALL THINGS - May 5, 2025

When the cancer’s in remission, we say, “God is good.” When the pay raise comes, we announce, “God is good.” Is God only good when the outcome is? Most, if not all of us, have a contractual agreement with God. I pledge to be a good, decent person and God, in return, will: Save my child. Heal my wife. Protect my job. Only fair, right? Yet when God fails to meet our expectations we’re left spinning in a tornado of questions.

God is sovereign. James 1:17 tells us he does not change like shifting shadows. God does permit evil, but he doesn’t allow Satan, the father of evil, to triumph. Isn’t this the promise of Romans 8:28? “In all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called to his purpose.” It says “In all things.”

You'll Get Through This: Hope and Help for Turbulent Times

Genesis 33

Jacob looked up and saw Esau coming with his four hundred men. He divided the children between Leah and Rachel and the two maidservants. He put the maidservants out in front, Leah and her children next, and Rachel and Joseph last. He led the way and, as he approached his brother, bowed seven times, honoring his brother. But Esau ran up and embraced him, held him tight and kissed him. And they both wept.

5  Then Esau looked around and saw the women and children: “And who are these with you?”

Jacob said, “The children that God saw fit to bless me with.”

6–7  Then the maidservants came up with their children and bowed; then Leah and her children, also bowing; and finally, Joseph and Rachel came up and bowed to Esau.

8  Esau then asked, “And what was the meaning of all those herds that I met?”

“I was hoping that they would pave the way for my master to welcome me.”

9  Esau said, “Oh, brother. I have plenty of everything—keep what is yours for yourself.”

10–11  Jacob said, “Please. If you can find it in your heart to welcome me, accept these gifts. When I saw your face, it was as the face of God smiling on me. Accept the gifts I have brought for you. God has been good to me and I have more than enough.” Jacob urged the gifts on him and Esau accepted.

12  Then Esau said, “Let’s start out on our way; I’ll take the lead.”

13–14  But Jacob said, “My master can see that the children are frail. And the flocks and herds are nursing, making for slow going. If I push them too hard, even for a day, I’d lose them all. So, master, you go on ahead of your servant, while I take it easy at the pace of my flocks and children. I’ll catch up with you in Seir.”

15  Esau said, “Let me at least lend you some of my men.”

“There’s no need,” said Jacob. “Your generous welcome is all I need or want.”

16  So Esau set out that day and made his way back to Seir.

17  And Jacob left for Succoth. He built a shelter for himself and sheds for his livestock. That’s how the place came to be called Succoth (Sheds).

18–20  And that’s how it happened that Jacob arrived all in one piece in Shechem in the land of Canaan—all the way from Paddan Aram. He camped near the city. He bought the land where he pitched his tent from the sons of Hamor, the father of Shechem. He paid a hundred silver coins for it. Then he built an altar there and named it El-Elohe-Israel (Mighty Is the God of Israel).

Our Daily Bread reading and devotion

Monday, May 05, 2025

by James Banks

TODAY'S SCRIPTURE

2 Chronicles 33:10-17

When God spoke to Manasseh and his people about this, they ignored him.

11–13  Then God directed the leaders of the troops of the king of Assyria to come after Manasseh. They put a hook in his nose, shackles on his feet, and took him off to Babylon. Now that he was in trouble, he went to his knees in prayer asking for help—total repentance before the God of his ancestors. As he prayed, God was touched; God listened and brought him back to Jerusalem as king. That convinced Manasseh that God was in control.

14–17  After that Manasseh rebuilt the outside defensive wall of the City of David to the west of the Gihon spring in the valley. It went from the Fish Gate and around the hill of Ophel. He also increased its height. He tightened up the defense system by posting army captains in all the fortress cities of Judah. He also did a good spring cleaning on The Temple, carting out the pagan idols and the goddess statue. He took all the altars he had set up on The Temple hill and throughout Jerusalem and dumped them outside the city. He put the Altar of God back in working order and restored worship, sacrificing Peace-Offerings and Thank-Offerings. He issued orders to the people: “You shall serve and worship God, the God of Israel.” But the people didn’t take him seriously—they used the name “God” but kept on going to the old pagan neighborhood shrines and doing the same old things.

Today's Insights

The fifty-five-year reign of Manasseh, king of Judah, is summarized in 2 Kings 21:2: “He did evil in the eyes of the Lord.” Manasseh “rebuilt the high places” and set up “an Asherah pole” (21:3), a sacred pole that honored the pagan goddess Asherah. In addition, he shed “much innocent blood” and led his people to follow his wrongdoing (v. 16). His life is further described in 2 Chronicles 33. He defiled the temple by setting up “altars to the Baals” and “bowed down to all the starry hosts” (v. 3). He even sacrificed his own children (v. 6). But after being taken captive to Babylon, Manasseh humbly prayed to God, was returned to his throne in Jerusalem, and ended his reign seeking to right his many wrongs (vv. 10-17). Likewise, we can humbly turn to Him for a fresh start.

God of the Fresh Start

When he prayed to him, the Lord was moved. 2 Chronicles 33:13

“The Merchant of Death is Dead!” That was the headline for an obituary that may have caused Alfred Nobel, the inventor of dynamite, to make a course correction in his life. But the newspaper made a mistake—Alfred was very much alive. It was his brother Ludvig who had died. When Alfred realized he’d be remembered for a dangerous invention that claimed many lives, he decided to donate most of his significant wealth to establishing an award for those who had benefited humanity. It became known as the Nobel Prize.

More than two thousand years earlier, another powerful man had a change of heart. Manasseh, king of Judah, rebelled against God. As a result, he was taken captive to Babylon. But “in his distress he sought the favor of the Lord,” and “when he prayed,” God “brought him back to Jerusalem and to his kingdom” (2 Chronicles 33:12-13). Manasseh spent the rest of his rule in peace, serving God and doing his best to undo the wrongs he’d done before.

“The Lord was moved” by Manasseh’s prayer (v. 13). God responds to humility. When we realize we need to make a change in the way we’re living and turn to Him, He never turns us away. He meets us with grace we don’t deserve and renews us with the self-giving love He poured out at the cross. New beginnings begin with Him.

Reflect & Pray

Where in your life do you need to have a change of heart? How will you turn to God today?

Forgiving Father, thank You that You’ll never turn me away. Please help me to turn to You with all my heart in all I do today.

My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers

Monday, May 05, 2025

Judgment through Love

For it is time for judgment to begin with God’s household. — 1 Peter 4:17

The Christian disciple must never forget that salvation is God’s thought, not humanity’s; it is something we can never hope to fathom. Salvation is not an experience. Experience is merely the gateway by which we become conscious of our salvation. Never preach the experience; preach the great thought of God.

When we preach, we aren’t proclaiming how humanity can be saved from hell and be made moral and pure; we are conveying good news about God. Our role as preachers is to present his truth, not to give sympathy. We are never to sympathize with a soul who finds it difficult to get to God. God isn’t to blame, nor is it for us to find out the reason for the difficulty. We are simply to deliver his truth, so that his Spirit can show what’s wrong. The gold standard of preaching is that it brings all who hear to judgment in the Spirit. The Spirit reveals each soul to itself.

In the teachings of Jesus Christ, the element of judgment is always prevalent. God’s judgment is the sign of his love, an overflowing mercy that separates right from wrong. If the salvation of Jesus Christ is alive and active inside us, it always takes the form of a judgment, one that brings an understanding of God’s justice, even in his severest statements.

Do you find the requirements of Jesus severe? If our Lord ever gave a command he couldn’t enable us to fulfill, he would be a liar. When we make our inability a barrier to obedience, we are telling God there is something he hasn’t taken into account. We can do nothing through our own abilities; we must allow the power of God to slay every ounce of self-reliance. Complete weakness and dependence will allow the Spirit of God to manifest his power.

1 Kings 19-20; Luke 23:1-25

WISDOM FROM OSWALD

The place for the comforter is not that of one who preaches, but of the comrade who says nothing, but prays to God about the matter. The biggest thing you can do for those who are suffering is not to talk platitudes, not to ask questions, but to get into contact with God, and the “greater works” will be done by prayer (see John 14:12–13). 

Baffled to Fight Better, 56 R

A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft

Monday, May 05, 2025

Under Control in an Out-of-Control World - #9996

So, what can you do when you realize there's an accident about to happen and you can do nothing to avoid being part of it? Well, your best bet is to try to limit the damage.

My wife knows. She was driving down a snow-covered hill. Snow was still falling. She proceeded cautiously as she neared the bottom as there were cars ahead of her. She looked in the rearview mirror and she saw a car coming over the top of the hill that she had just driven over, but this one was coming at a fairly high rate of speed and he was not adapting to the weather at all. This was years ago, but man, we still remember it.

That car slammed down the brake and of course when he did that, he started to lose control. My wife knew that car was headed for her; it was out-of-control. She couldn't cross the line into the other lane. There were cars coming that way. There were cars ahead of her. What could she do? Speed up so she wouldn't be rear-ended? But then she'd lose control of her vehicle and run into the others. She made the right choice. She pulled over, gripped the wheel so she wouldn't be out-of-control and hit others. And sure enough, the car behind her hit her. But, she did not hit the others in front of her. She was smart enough to be the one who maintained control when others weren't.

I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Under Control in an Out-of-Control World."

Well, Our word for today from the Word of God; 2 Timothy 3, where the Apostle Paul says this in verse 1 - "Mark this: There will be terrible times in the last days. People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control..." And it continues. Then he turns to us as believers and to Timothy at that time and says, "But as for you, you continue in what you have learned and have become convinced of, because you know from those whom you have learned it." (2 Timothy 3:14)

Hang onto the wheel when everybody else is out-of-control he's saying. Yeah, don't let go of that wheel! Don't you lose control. The world's losing control! It's ignoring the boundaries. They're driving fast on slippery pavement. Don't you speed up just because they are.

You know, the world has always been, let's say, oh, ten miles distant from the church, because the world has always been farther from God than the church is. The church is always going to be a little more moral, a little more righteous. But as the world moves away from God, the church maintains that same distance. So very quickly many Christians today are where the world was only a few years ago.

You know what? It's time to grab the wheel and to say, "I'm not moving any further." Maybe you'll take some hits like my wife did, but you've got to say, "I won't be responsible for causing any damage myself." Other believers may see divorce as no big deal, as an answer. But you say it's not an option for us. Others may treat the truth lightly. I'm going to work harder than ever to hold the wheel and tell the truth.

Others may devalue sex and love by playing with sex or flirting with technical virginity, but my eyes are on Jesus and the purity He represents. Maybe others are building a material kingdom here on earth, but I'm not going to be trapped in that rat race. I want to set a level at what I need and give the rest away.

You can count on it: the world is speeding away from God's standards, but Ephesians 6:13 is still in the book. And it says, "Put on the full armor of God so that when the day of evil comes you may be able to stand your ground." Yeah!

So, hold on! Maintain control! Because of your allegiance to Christ's standards, you'll be the one who is under control in an out-of-control world.

Matthew 20:1-16, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals

Max Lucado Daily: Tell the Truth

Our dislike for the truth began at age three when mom walked in our rooms and asked, “Did you hit your little brother?” We knew then and there that honesty had its consequences.  “Did I hit baby brother?  Well, that all depends on how you interpret the word hit.”

We want our bosses to like us, so we flatter. God calls it a lie. We want people to admire us, so we exaggerate.  God calls it a lie.  We want people to respect us, so we live in houses we can’t afford and charge bills we can’t pay.  God calls it living a lie.

The cure for deceit is simply this: face the music. The ripple of today’s lie is tomorrow’s wave and next year’s flood.

Be just like Jesus.  Tell the truth!

from Just Like Jesus

Matthew 20:1-16

A Story About Workers

1–2  20 “God’s kingdom is like an estate manager who went out early in the morning to hire workers for his vineyard. They agreed on a wage of a dollar a day, and went to work.

3–5  “Later, about nine o’clock, the manager saw some other men hanging around the town square unemployed. He told them to go to work in his vineyard and he would pay them a fair wage. They went.

5–6  “He did the same thing at noon, and again at three o’clock. At five o’clock he went back and found still others standing around. He said, ‘Why are you standing around all day doing nothing?’

7  “They said, ‘Because no one hired us.’

“He told them to go to work in his vineyard.

8  “When the day’s work was over, the owner of the vineyard instructed his foreman, ‘Call the workers in and pay them their wages. Start with the last hired and go on to the first.’

9–12  “Those hired at five o’clock came up and were each given a dollar. When those who were hired first saw that, they assumed they would get far more. But they got the same, each of them one dollar. Taking the dollar, they groused angrily to the manager, ‘These last workers put in only one easy hour, and you just made them equal to us, who slaved all day under a scorching sun.’

13–15  “He replied to the one speaking for the rest, ‘Friend, I haven’t been unfair. We agreed on the wage of a dollar, didn’t we? So take it and go. I decided to give to the one who came last the same as you. Can’t I do what I want with my own money? Are you going to get stingy because I am generous?’

16  “Here it is again, the Great Reversal: many of the first ending up last, and the last first.”

Our Daily Bread reading and devotion

Sunday, May 04, 2025

by Kirsten Holmberg

TODAY'S SCRIPTURE

Psalm 16

A David Song

1–2  16 Keep me safe, O God,

I’ve run for dear life to you.

I say to God, “Be my Lord!”

Without you, nothing makes sense.

3  And these God-chosen lives all around—

what splendid friends they make!

4  Don’t just go shopping for a god.

Gods are not for sale.

I swear I’ll never treat god-names

like brand-names.

5–6  My choice is you, God, first and only.

And now I find I’m your choice!

You set me up with a house and yard.

And then you made me your heir!

7–8  The wise counsel God gives when I’m awake

is confirmed by my sleeping heart.

Day and night I’ll stick with God;

I’ve got a good thing going and I’m not letting go.

9–10  I’m happy from the inside out,

and from the outside in, I’m firmly formed.

You canceled my ticket to hell—

that’s not my destination!

11  Now you’ve got my feet on the life path,

all radiant from the shining of your face.

Ever since you took my hand,

I’m on the right way.

Today's Insights

The superscription of Psalm 16 says that it’s “a miktam of David,” which some scholars believe is a musical term. But we don’t know what prompted David to write the psalm. His prayer, however, is for God’s continued care in dangerous times. This theme caused both Peter in his sermon on the day of Pentecost (Acts 2:25) and Paul at Antioch (13:35-37) to cite Psalm 16:8-11 as anticipating God’s ultimate provision in Jesus. The Bible Knowledge Commentary adds: “So the words of David are also typological; they transcended his own experience and became historically true in Christ.” And in Jesus we find our true source of joy.

Lasting Joy

You make known to me the path of life; you will fill me with joy in your presence. Psalm 16:11

In 2014, residents of a village in Norway erected a traffic sign that encouraged people crossing the street to do so in a silly manner. The intent was to bring a few moments of humor—for “silly walkers” and onlookers alike—to brighten one another’s days. These brief glimpses of silliness were a momentary encouragement to downcast spirits.

The Bible acknowledges that we’ll have seasons of difficulty and hardship, causing us to feel demoralized and sad. The book of Lamentations and many psalms give voice to such pain. Yet the Scriptures also point us to what can bring us lasting joy in all circumstances: the presence of God. David penned the words of Psalm 16 with an eye to an eternal future with Him. Those of us alive today—after the death and resurrection of Jesus—know God’s presence even now through the Holy Spirit.

Though they may only last a short time, humor and levity can lift our spirits in times of difficulty. However, to experience the lasting joy that sustains us through the most painful seasons of our lives, we must “take refuge” in God (v. 1) who counsels and instructs us (v. 7). He’ll never abandon us; instead, He’ll “make known to [us] the path of life” and “fill [us] with joy” (v. 11). 

Reflect & Pray

What brings you joy during seasons of difficulty? How does God’s presence lift your spirits?

Dear God, thank You for being with me through both good and bad days. You’re the source of my joy.

God is always with us. Learn more by listening to God With Us by Discover the Word.

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My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers

Sunday, May 04, 2025

Vicarious Intercession

Since we have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus, . . . let us draw near to God with a sincere heart. — Hebrews 10:19, 22

Our ability to approach God is entirely due to what our Lord did on the cross: he identified himself with sin, and then sacrificed himself to atone for that sin. Beware of the idea that interceding for others in prayer means bringing our personal sympathies into the presence of God and demanding he do what we ask. To draw near to God “with a sincere heart” is to approach God with all humility, remembering that it is only “by the blood of Jesus” that we can enter the holy of holies.

Spiritual stubbornness is the greatest barrier to interceding for others in the way we should. If we are spiritually stubborn, we sympathize with something in ourselves or in others which doesn’t need sympathy; rather, it needs to be atoned for by the blood of Christ. Generally, this is something that seems right and virtuous, something we can’t imagine needs to be handed over to God for atonement.

If we get stuck in this mindset, we no longer identify ourselves with God’s interest in others. We fall in love with our own ideas and constantly put them forward, becoming sullen and sulky if we don’t get our way. Soon, prayer for others has become nothing more than the glorification of our natural sympathies. We have to realize that Jesus’s identification with sin, and our identification with him, requires a radical alteration of all our sympathies. Vicarious intercession means that we deliberately substitute our natural sympathy with others for God’s interest in them.

1 Kings 16-18; Luke 22:47-71

WISDOM FROM OSWALD

Civilization is based on principles which imply that the passing moment is permanent. The only permanent thing is God, and if I put anything else as permanent, I become atheistic. I must build only on God (John 14:6).

The Highest Good—Thy Great Redemption, 565 L

Matthew 19 Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals

Max Lucado Daily: God Calls the Shots

Every time Satan sets out to score for evil, he ends up scoring a point for good.  Consider Paul.  Satan hoped prison would silence his pulpit, and it did, but it also unleashed his pen.  The letters to the Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, and Colossians were all written in a jail cell.

Satan is the Colonel Klink of the Bible.  Remember Klink? He was the fall guy for Hogan on the television series, Hogan’s Heroes. Klink supposedly ran a German POW camp during World War 2. Those inside the camp, however, knew better. They knew who really ran the camp:  the prisoners. They listened to Klink’s calls and read his mail. They even gave Klink ideas, all the while using him for their own cause.

Over and over the Bible makes it clear who really runs the earth. Satan may strut and prance, but it is God who calls the shots.

from The Great House of God

 Matthew 19

Divorce

1–2  19 When Jesus had completed these teachings, he left Galilee and crossed the region of Judea on the other side of the Jordan. Great crowds followed him there, and he healed them.

3  One day the Pharisees were badgering him: “Is it legal for a man to divorce his wife for any reason?”

4–6  He answered, “Haven’t you read in your Bible that the Creator originally made man and woman for each other, male and female? And because of this, a man leaves father and mother and is firmly bonded to his wife, becoming one flesh—no longer two bodies but one. Because God created this organic union of the two sexes, no one should desecrate his art by cutting them apart.”

7  They shot back in rebuttal, “If that’s so, why did Moses give instructions for divorce papers and divorce procedures?”

8–9  Jesus said, “Moses provided for divorce as a concession to your hard heartedness, but it is not part of God’s original plan. I’m holding you to the original plan, and holding you liable for adultery if you divorce your faithful wife and then marry someone else. I make an exception in cases where the spouse has committed adultery.”

10  Jesus’ disciples objected, “If those are the terms of marriage, we’re stuck. Why get married?”

11–12  But Jesus said, “Not everyone is mature enough to live a married life. It requires a certain aptitude and grace. Marriage isn’t for everyone. Some, from birth seemingly, never give marriage a thought. Others never get asked—or accepted. And some decide not to get married for kingdom reasons. But if you’re capable of growing into the largeness of marriage, do it.”

To Enter God’s Kingdom

13–15  One day children were brought to Jesus in the hope that he would lay hands on them and pray over them. The disciples shooed them off. But Jesus intervened: “Let the children alone, don’t prevent them from coming to me. God’s kingdom is made up of people like these.” After laying hands on them, he left.

16  Another day, a man stopped Jesus and asked, “Teacher, what good thing must I do to get eternal life?”

17  Jesus said, “Why do you question me about what’s good? God is the One who is good. If you want to enter the life of God, just do what he tells you.”

18–19  The man asked, “What in particular?”

Jesus said, “Don’t murder, don’t commit adultery, don’t steal, don’t lie, honor your father and mother, and love your neighbor as you do yourself.”

20  The young man said, “I’ve done all that. What’s left?”

21  “If you want to give it all you’ve got,” Jesus replied, “go sell your possessions; give everything to the poor. All your wealth will then be in heaven. Then come follow me.”

22  That was the last thing the young man expected to hear. And so, crestfallen, he walked away. He was holding on tight to a lot of things, and he couldn’t bear to let go.

23–24  As he watched him go, Jesus told his disciples, “Do you have any idea how difficult it is for the rich to enter God’s kingdom? Let me tell you, it’s easier to gallop a camel through a needle’s eye than for the rich to enter God’s kingdom.”

25  The disciples were staggered. “Then who has any chance at all?”

26  Jesus looked hard at them and said, “No chance at all if you think you can pull it off yourself. Every chance in the world if you trust God to do it.”

27  Then Peter chimed in, “We left everything and followed you. What do we get out of it?”

28–30  Jesus replied, “Yes, you have followed me. In the re-creation of the world, when the Son of Man will rule gloriously, you who have followed me will also rule, starting with the twelve tribes of Israel. And not only you, but anyone who sacrifices home, family, fields—whatever—because of me will get it all back a hundred times over, not to mention the considerable bonus of eternal life. This is the Great Reversal: many of the first ending up last, and the last first.”

Our Daily Bread reading and devotion

Saturday, May 03, 2025

by Marvin Williams

TODAY'S SCRIPTURE

Philippians 1:12-18

They Can’t Imprison the Message

12–14  I want to report to you, friends, that my imprisonment here has had the opposite of its intended effect. Instead of being squelched, the Message has actually prospered. All the soldiers here, and everyone else, too, found out that I’m in jail because of this Messiah. That piqued their curiosity, and now they’ve learned all about him. Not only that, but most of the followers of Jesus here have become far more sure of themselves in the faith than ever, speaking out fearlessly about God, about the Messiah.

15–17  It’s true that some here preach Christ because with me out of the way, they think they’ll step right into the spotlight. But the others do it with the best heart in the world. One group is motivated by pure love, knowing that I am here defending the Message, wanting to help. The others, now that I’m out of the picture, are merely greedy, hoping to get something out of it for themselves. Their motives are bad. They see me as their competition, and so the worse it goes for me, the better—they think—for them.

18–21  So how am I to respond? I’ve decided that I really don’t care about their motives, whether mixed, bad, or indifferent. Every time one of them opens his mouth, Christ is proclaimed, so I just cheer them on!

And I’m going to keep that celebration going

Today's Insights

False teachers masquerading as apostles in the Corinthian church sought to discredit Paul’s ministry and authority (2 Corinthians 11:1-15). They falsely charged that he wasn’t a true apostle and claimed he was dishonest, lacked official letters of authorization (2:17-3:6), was weak and unimpressive in appearance and speech (10:10), and lacked ecstatic spiritual experiences (12:1-10). In his defense, the apostle highlighted the hardships, imprisonments, and beatings he endured for the gospel (1:8-10; 6:4-10; 11:23-27) and argued that his suffering authenticated his apostleship and ministry (see Acts 9:15-16).

God’s Perspective

I want you to know . . . what has happened to me has actually served to advance the gospel. Philippians 1:12

In 2018, pastor Tan Flippin had a cycling accident that landed him in the hospital with fractures to his hip. When the doctors ordered a CT scan to check for a concussion, they discovered a large malignant tumor on the front of his brain. The discovery led to a long medical journey with more masses found and extensive treatments performed—including a bone marrow transplant. Flippin believes that “God allowed the accident for my brain tumor to be found.”

Paul told the Philippians that God can use accidents and other adversities for His glory. The apostle was under Roman house arrest, awaiting trial before the emperor Nero for a capital offense. Rather than being sad, Paul rejoiced. How could he be joyful? He counted being “in chains for Christ” (Philippians 1:13) as a privilege (v. 29). Next, looking at his adversity from God’s perspective, Paul said, “What has happened to me has actually served to advance the gospel” (v. 12). He used his incarceration as an opportunity to share the gospel with the guards chained to him. Finally, as he preached the good news of Jesus while in bondage, his example encouraged other believers “to proclaim the gospel without fear” (v. 14). 

When adversity comes, let’s trust God’s perspective and believe that—even from what’s difficult—He can bring something good.

Reflect & Pray

How did you respond to a recent challenging situation? How can you embrace God’s point of view and see Him working it out for good?

Heavenly Father, please use my challenging moments to bring out Your will in my life.  

Learn to live with humility by reading Humble Like God.

My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers

Saturday, May 03, 2025

Vital Intercession

Pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. — Ephesians 6:18

If we are praying as this verse commands, our prayers might cost the ones for whom we pray more than we expect. When we begin to intercede in prayer for others, God begins to lift them into a totally

different sphere, a process that may involve trials and difficulties. We have to make sure that our natural sympathy doesn’t get in God’s way. If we slip from identifying with his interests in others into personal sympathy for them, our vital connection with God will be lost. Putting sympathy first is a rebuke to him.

It is impossible to pray vitally unless we have perfect confidence in God. Personal sympathy and prejudice weaken this confidence; identification with God ensures it. Whenever we stop being identified with God, it is because of sympathy, not sin. Sin isn’t likely to interfere with our relationship to God, but sympathy will make us say, “I refuse to allow this to happen.” When we refuse to allow God to have his way, we have lost our vital connection with him.

If we are interceding properly, we have neither time nor inclination to pray for our own sad, sweet selves. It’s not that we’re working hard to keep thoughts of ourselves at bay; thoughts of ourselves simply aren’t there. In vital intercession, we are completely and entirely identified with God’s interests, and our natural sympathy—for ourselves and for others—is entirely eclipsed.

1 Kings 14-15; Luke 22:21-46

WISDOM FROM OSWALD

Defenders of the faith are inclined to be bitter until they learn to walk in the light of the Lord. When you have learned to walk in the light of the Lord, bitterness and contention are impossible.

Biblical Psychology, 199 R

Genesis 32, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals

Max Lucado Daily: REST FOR YOUR SOUL - May 2, 2025

Waiting is easier said than done. Waiting doesn’t come easy for me. I’ve been in a hurry all my life. Pedal faster, drive quicker. I used to wear my wristwatch on the inside of my arm so I wouldn’t lose the millisecond it took to turn my wrist. I wonder if I could’ve obeyed God’s ancient command to keep the Sabbath holy, to slow life to a crawl for twenty-four hours? The Sabbath was created for frantic souls like me. People who need this weekly reminder: the world will not stop if you do.

Isaiah 40:31 promises, “Those who wait on the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint.” Fresh strength. Legs that don’t grow weary. Wait on the Lord. He will bring rest to your soul!

You'll Get Through This: Hope and Help for Turbulent Times

Genesis 32

And Jacob went his way. Angels of God met him. When Jacob saw them he said, “Oh! God’s Camp!” And he named the place Mahanaim (Campground).

3–5  Then Jacob sent messengers on ahead to his brother Esau in the land of Seir in Edom. He instructed them: “Tell my master Esau this, ‘A message from your servant Jacob: I’ve been staying with Laban and couldn’t get away until now. I’ve acquired cattle and donkeys and sheep; also men and women servants. I’m telling you all this, my master, hoping for your approval.’ ”

6  The messengers came back to Jacob and said, “We talked to your brother Esau and he’s on his way to meet you. But he has four hundred men with him.”

7–8  Jacob was scared. Very scared. Panicked, he divided his people, sheep, cattle, and camels into two camps. He thought, “If Esau comes on the first camp and attacks it, the other camp has a chance to get away.”

9–12  And then Jacob prayed, “God of my father Abraham, God of my father Isaac, God who told me, ‘Go back to your parents’ homeland and I’ll treat you well.’ I don’t deserve all the love and loyalty you’ve shown me. When I left here and crossed the Jordan I only had the clothes on my back, and now look at me—two camps! Save me, please, from the violence of my brother, my angry brother! I’m afraid he’ll come and attack us all, me, the mothers and the children. You yourself said, ‘I will treat you well; I’ll make your descendants like the sands of the sea, far too many to count.’ ”

13–16  He slept the night there. Then he prepared a present for his brother Esau from his possessions: two hundred female goats, twenty male goats, two hundred ewes and twenty rams, thirty camels with their nursing young, forty cows and ten bulls, twenty female donkeys and ten male donkeys. He put a servant in charge of each herd and said, “Go ahead of me and keep a healthy space between each herd.”

17–18  Then he instructed the first one out: “When my brother Esau comes close and asks, ‘Who is your master? Where are you going? Who owns these?’—answer him like this, ‘Your servant Jacob. They are a gift to my master Esau. He’s on his way.’ ”

19–20  He gave the same instructions to the second servant and to the third—to each in turn as they set out with their herds: “Say ‘Your servant Jacob is on his way behind us.’ ” He thought, “I will soften him up with the succession of gifts. Then when he sees me face-to-face, maybe he’ll be glad to welcome me.”

21  So his gifts went before him while he settled down for the night in the camp.

22–23  But during the night he got up and took his two wives, his two maidservants, and his eleven children and crossed the ford of the Jabbok. He got them safely across the brook along with all his possessions.

24–25  But Jacob stayed behind by himself, and a man wrestled with him until daybreak. When the man saw that he couldn’t get the best of Jacob as they wrestled, he deliberately threw Jacob’s hip out of joint.

26  The man said, “Let me go; it’s daybreak.”

Jacob said, “I’m not letting you go ’til you bless me.”

27  The man said, “What’s your name?”

He answered, “Jacob.”

28  The man said, “But no longer. Your name is no longer Jacob. From now on it’s Israel (God-Wrestler); you’ve wrestled with God and you’ve come through.”

29  Jacob asked, “And what’s your name?”

The man said, “Why do you want to know my name?” And then, right then and there, he blessed him.

30  Jacob named the place Peniel (God’s Face) because, he said, “I saw God face-to-face and lived to tell the story!”

31–32  The sun came up as he left Peniel, limping because of his hip. (This is why Israelites to this day don’t eat the hip muscle; because Jacob’s hip was thrown out of joint.)

Our Daily Bread reading and devotion

Friday, May 02, 2025

by Elisa Morgan

TODAY'S SCRIPTURE

1 Peter 3:15-16

Through thick and thin, keep your hearts at attention, in adoration before Christ, your Master. Be ready to speak up and tell anyone who asks why you’re living the way you are, and always with the utmost courtesy. Keep a clear conscience before God so that when people throw mud at you, none of it will stick. They’ll end up realizing that they’re the ones who need a bath.

Today's Insights

First Peter was written to believers in Jesus who were being persecuted because of their faith. In chapter 2, echoing Christ’s teachings in Matthew 5:10-16, Peter encourages believers to live holy lives and to do good so that those who don’t believe might be won to Jesus (1 Peter 2:11-25). In chapter 3, he says to remain faithful, to continue to “revere Christ as Lord” and to “always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have” (v. 15). Paul makes similar calls for righteous living in his letters (see Philippians 2:14-16; Colossians 4:5-6; 1 Thessalonians 4:9-12; Titus 2:7-8).

Salty Answers

Let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone. Colossians 4:6

Bert placed his debit card atop the restaurant bill. The waiter scooped it up and then paused to ask, “Wait, who is this guy who says, ‘I am the way and the truth and the life?’ That’s so conceited!” Bert realized the waiter was reacting to the words printed on the card by his Christian financial company—Jesus’ words from John 14:6. Amused at the waiter’s response, Bert explained the identity of “this guy” and His sacrificial offering to bring us to God.

When we encounter people who know nothing about our faith, we might respond with ridicule or even judgment. But the apostle Peter challenged us, “Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have” (1 Peter 3:15). Then he warned, “Do this with gentleness and respect” (v. 15). In Colossians 4:6, Paul explained the power of such a response, “Let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone.” Just as salt on our food enhances flavor, salty answers invite others to come closer to faith.

Questions may come in surprising settings from those completely unfamiliar with Jesus. When we respond with gentleness and grace, our answers offer a saltiness that entices questioners to yearn for more.

Reflect & Pray

How have you been surprised by a question about God? How might you prepare yourself to give a “salty” answer to the questioners in your life?

Dear God, please prepare me for the questions You bring my way, that I may give gracious and loving answers.

Be prepared for the next time you need to give an answer for your faith.

My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers

Friday, May 02, 2025

The Passion of Patience

Though it linger, wait for it. — Habakkuk 2:3

Patience is not indifference. Patience is an immensely strong rock, withstanding all onslaughts. The vision of God is the source of patience, because it gives moral inspiration. Moses was able to be patient, not because he had a sense of duty but because he had the vision of God: “He persevered because he saw him who is invisible” (Hebrews 11:27). If God gives you a time of temptation in the wilderness, when there is no word from him at all, be patient. The power to endure is yours because you see God.

A person who has had a vision of God is devoted to God himself, not to any particular cause or issue. You always know if the vision you’re having is of God because of the inspiration it brings. When you see God, everything around you is energized. Everything is larger, more vibrant, more.

“Though it linger, wait for it.” The proof that we have the vision is that we are reaching out for more than we have grasped. It is a bad thing to be satisfied spiritually. We have the tendency to look for satisfaction in our experience. We think that because we’ve experienced salvation and sanctification, we have the power to endure anything. The instant we begin to think this way, we are on the road to ruin. If we have nothing more than our experiences, we have nothing. If we have the inspiration of the vision of God, we have more than we can experience.

Never let yourself relax spiritually. Press on toward your goal. “Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already arrived at my goal, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me” (Philippians 3:12).

1 Kings 12-13; Luke 22:1-20

WISDOM FROM OSWALD

There is no condition of life in which we cannot abide in Jesus. We have to learn to abide in Him wherever we are placed. 

Our Brilliant Heritage, 946 R

A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft

Friday, May 02, 2025

THE CHOICE THAT CHANGES MANY FUTURES - #9995

Marty McFly met a strange scientist with a machine that promised interesting results - the ability to go back in time. And he did. He went, as the title of the movie about it said, "Back to the Future." He had a most amazing experience getting to know his mother and father when they were teenagers. His dad, George McFly, was a milquetoast, bossed-around kind of guy, afraid to stand up to anybody. Marty always knew him to be that kind of a guy, until he was transported back to the night that would determine the course of the rest of his Dad's life - and his Mom's. One decision - whether or not George McFly will stand up to the bully who is attacking his girlfriend - who is to become Marty's mother - is the turning point of George's life. And Marty is there to help his Dad make the right and courageous choice. It totally changes the course of George McFly's life. He steps up, defends his girl, and neutralizes the bully who wanted her. So instead of the life Marty has known with a pretty unsuccessful, wimpy dad, he returns to his life with a strong and successful dad because of that choice. A very different life because of one decision that changed the future.

I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "The Choice That Changes Many Futures."

Some of us might wish we could somehow go back to the crossroads moments in our lives for a do-over. But that's only in the movies. What is possible is to make a choice now that will change not only your future, but the futures of many others.

The choice that changes many futures revolves around the man who made this simple but profound promise: "I am making everything new!" (Revelation 21:5). Those are the words of Jesus Christ, the man who has changed so many lives, so many families over so many years. I know I got a new dad because one day he acknowledged he had the spiritual cancer that the Bible calls sin - that he needed Jesus Christ in his life to forgive him and change him. And Jesus did change him - dramatically. I know. I lived that change. That transformed man planted seeds in me that have come up in my children, and now in my grandchildren. It all would have been so different had it not been for that day when my dad placed his life in Jesus' hands.

Psalm 102:18, our word for today from the Word of God, comments on this potential we all have to profoundly leave our mark on the future. It says: "Let this be written for a future generation, that a people not yet created may praise the Lord." One man or one woman who gets right with God can inject a life-changing, life-stabilizing faith into many who will come after him.

For you, for those you love, and for those who come from your life, so much depends on what you do with Jesus. The miracle begins when you recognize your need for the forgiving, life-changing work of Jesus Christ, as my dad did - the miracle made possible by Christ's death on the cross and His resurrection from the dead. If there's never been a time when you've opened your life to this amazing Savior, if you've lived enough days without His love, His forgiving, His power in your life, why don't you tell Him that you want this to be the day you begin your personal relationship with Him. "Jesus, I believe You are the Man who died for my sin and only You can forgive my sin and remove my sin. So here I am, I'm Yours."

I would invite you to check out our website today to help you know how to cross over into the love of Christ and to be sure you belong to Him. That's why we have it. It's ANewStory.com and it could be the beginning of your new story.

Every life leaves a legacy. Every life marks the lives of many others - including people you'll never meet. There is no greater legacy you can leave than a life that radiates the love and the power of Jesus Christ. It begins with you the day you begin with Him.

Genesis 31, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals

Max Lucado Daily: A HIGHER PURPOSE - May 1, 2025

God promises, “When you pass through the waters, I’ll be with you; and through the rivers, they will not overflow you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned, nor will the flame scorch you” (Isaiah 43:2 NKJV). Will your unhappy marriage become happy in a heartbeat? Not likely. Does God guarantee the absence of struggle? Not in this life. But he does pledge to reweave your pain for a higher purpose.

It won’t be quick. Joseph was 17 years old when his brothers abandoned him; he was 37 when he saw them again. Another year passed before he saw his father. Sometimes God takes his time. But remember this: you are a version of Joseph in your generation. His story is in the Bible for this reason: yo teach us to trust God to trump evil. And what Satan intends for evil, God redeems for good. You will get through this!

You'll Get Through This: Hope and Help for Turbulent Times

Genesis 31

Jacob learned that Laban’s sons were talking behind his back: “Jacob has used our father’s wealth to make himself rich at our father’s expense.” At the same time, Jacob noticed that Laban had changed toward him. He wasn’t treating him the same.

3  That’s when God said to Jacob, “Go back home where you were born. I’ll go with you.”

4–9  So Jacob sent word for Rachel and Leah to meet him out in the field where his flocks were. He said, “I notice that your father has changed toward me; he doesn’t treat me the same as before. But the God of my father hasn’t changed; he’s still with me. You know how hard I’ve worked for your father. Still, your father has cheated me over and over, changing my wages time and again. But God never let him really hurt me. If he said, ‘Your wages will consist of speckled animals’ the whole flock would start having speckled lambs and kids. And if he said, ‘From now on your wages will be streaked animals’ the whole flock would have streaked ones. Over and over God used your father’s livestock to reward me.

10–11  “Once, while the flocks were mating, I had a dream and saw the billy goats, all of them streaked, speckled, and mottled, mounting their mates. In the dream an angel of God called out to me, ‘Jacob!’

“I said, ‘Yes?’

12–13  “He said, ‘Watch closely. Notice that all the goats in the flock that are mating are streaked, speckled, and mottled. I know what Laban’s been doing to you. I’m the God of Bethel where you consecrated a pillar and made a vow to me. Now be on your way, get out of this place, go home to your birthplace.’ ”

14–16  Rachel and Leah said, “Has he treated us any better? Aren’t we treated worse than outsiders? All he wanted was the money he got from selling us, and he’s spent all that. Any wealth that God has seen fit to return to us from our father is justly ours and our children’s. Go ahead. Do what God told you.”

17–18  Jacob did it. He put his children and his wives on camels and gathered all his livestock and everything he had gotten, everything acquired in Paddan Aram, to go back home to his father Isaac in the land of Canaan.

19–21  Laban was off shearing sheep. Rachel stole her father’s household gods. And Jacob had concealed his plans so well that Laban the Aramean had no idea what was going on—he was totally in the dark. Jacob got away with everything he had and was soon across the Euphrates headed for the hill country of Gilead.

22–24  Three days later, Laban got the news: “Jacob’s run off.” Laban rounded up his relatives and chased after him. Seven days later they caught up with him in the hill country of Gilead. That night God came to Laban the Aramean in a dream and said, “Be careful what you do to Jacob, whether good or bad.”

25  When Laban reached him, Jacob’s tents were pitched in the Gilead mountains; Laban pitched his tents there, too.

26–30  “What do you mean,” said Laban, “by keeping me in the dark and sneaking off, hauling my daughters off like prisoners of war? Why did you run off like a thief in the night? Why didn’t you tell me? Why, I would have sent you off with a great celebration—music, timbrels, flutes! But you wouldn’t permit me so much as a kiss for my daughters and grandchildren. It was a stupid thing for you to do. If I had a mind to, I could destroy you right now, but the God of your father spoke to me last night, ‘Be careful what you do to Jacob, whether good or bad.’ I understand. You left because you were homesick. But why did you steal my household gods?”

31–32  Jacob answered Laban, “I was afraid. I thought you would take your daughters away from me by brute force. But as far as your gods are concerned, if you find that anybody here has them, that person dies. With all of us watching, look around. If you find anything here that belongs to you, take it.” Jacob didn’t know that Rachel had stolen the gods.

33–35  Laban went through Jacob’s tent, Leah’s tent, and the tents of the two maids but didn’t find them. He went from Leah’s tent to Rachel’s. But Rachel had taken the household gods, put them inside a camel cushion, and was sitting on them. When Laban had gone through the tent, searching high and low without finding a thing, Rachel said to her father, “Don’t think I’m being disrespectful, my master, that I can’t stand before you, but I’m having my period.” So even though he turned the place upside down in his search, he didn’t find the household gods.

36–37  Now it was Jacob’s turn to get angry. He lit into Laban: “So what’s my crime, what wrong have I done you that you badger me like this? You’ve ransacked the place. Have you turned up a single thing that’s yours? Let’s see it—display the evidence. Our two families can be the jury and decide between us.

38–42  “In the twenty years I’ve worked for you, ewes and she-goats never miscarried. I never feasted on the rams from your flock. I never brought you a torn carcass killed by wild animals but that I paid for it out of my own pocket—actually, you made me pay whether it was my fault or not. I was out in all kinds of weather, from torrid heat to freezing cold, putting in many a sleepless night. For twenty years I’ve done this: I slaved away fourteen years for your two daughters and another six years for your flock and you changed my wages ten times. If the God of my father, the God of Abraham and the Fear of Isaac, had not stuck with me, you would have sent me off penniless. But God saw the fix I was in and how hard I had worked and last night rendered his verdict.”

43–44  Laban defended himself: “The daughters are my daughters, the children are my children, the flock is my flock—everything you see is mine. But what can I do about my daughters or for the children they’ve had? So let’s settle things between us, make a covenant—God will be the witness between us.”

45  Jacob took a stone and set it upright as a pillar.

46–47  Jacob called his family around, “Get stones!” They gathered stones and heaped them up and then ate there beside the pile of stones. Laban named it in Aramaic, Yegar-sahadutha (Witness Monument); Jacob echoed the naming in Hebrew, Galeed (Witness Monument).

48–50  Laban said, “This monument of stones will be a witness, beginning now, between you and me.” (That’s why it is called Galeed—Witness Monument.) It is also called Mizpah (Watchtower) because Laban said, “God keep watch between you and me when we are out of each other’s sight. If you mistreat my daughters or take other wives when there’s no one around to see you, God will see you and stand witness between us.”

51–53  Laban continued to Jacob, “This monument of stones and this stone pillar that I have set up is a witness, a witness that I won’t cross this line to hurt you and you won’t cross this line to hurt me. The God of Abraham and the God of Nahor (the God of their ancestor) will keep things straight between us.”

53–55  Jacob promised, swearing by the Fear, the God of his father Isaac. Then Jacob offered a sacrifice on the mountain and worshiped, calling in all his family members to the meal. They ate and slept that night on the mountain. Laban got up early the next morning, kissed his grandchildren and his daughters, blessed them, and then set off for home.

Our Daily Bread reading and devotion

Thursday, May 01, 2025

by Brent Hackett

TODAY'S SCRIPTURE

1 Kings 19:8-14

He got up, ate and drank his fill, and set out. Nourished by that meal, he walked forty days and nights, all the way to the mountain of God, to Horeb. When he got there, he crawled into a cave and went to sleep.

Then the word of God came to him: “So Elijah, what are you doing here?”

10  “I’ve been working my heart out for the God-of-the-Angel-Armies,” said Elijah. “The people of Israel have abandoned your covenant, destroyed the places of worship, and murdered your prophets. I’m the only one left, and now they’re trying to kill me.”

11–12  Then he was told, “Go, stand on the mountain at attention before God. God will pass by.”

A hurricane wind ripped through the mountains and shattered the rocks before God, but God wasn’t to be found in the wind; after the wind an earthquake, but God wasn’t in the earthquake; and after the earthquake fire, but God wasn’t in the fire; and after the fire a gentle and quiet whisper.

13–14  When Elijah heard the quiet voice, he muffled his face with his great cloak, went to the mouth of the cave, and stood there. A quiet voice asked, “So Elijah, now tell me, what are you doing here?” Elijah said it again, “I’ve been working my heart out for God, the God-of-the-Angel-Armies, because the people of Israel have abandoned your covenant, destroyed your places of worship, and murdered your prophets. I’m the only one left, and now they’re trying to kill me.”

Today's Insights

Some scholars believe that in 1 Kings 19, Elijah was suffering from depression. He was weary after three and a half hard years of ministry, the events on Mount Carmel, and his flight from the wrath of Jezebel. But notice how kindly God cares for his discouraged servant. He gives Elijah rest to compensate for his fatigue and then provides him with food to restore his strength (vv. 5-7). Later, God would continue His care for him by assigning him new tasks to focus on—anointing kings and training Elisha (vv. 15-18). Today, as we serve God, we can listen for His voice and receive His compassionate care.

Listening for God’s Voice

After the fire came a gentle whisper. 1 Kings 19:12

In the early twentieth century, New York City had become a noisy place. With an overhead train, cars, trolleys, newsboys yelling, and people rushing around—life was loud! Yet, one day at Broadway and 34th Street, a man named Charles Kellogg declared to his friend, “Listen, I hear a cricket.”

“Impossible,” his friend answered. “With all this racket, you couldn’t hear a tiny sound like that.” Yet Mr. Kellogg insisted and eventually found the cricket, chirping in the window of a bakery. “What astonishing hearing you have,” his friend proclaimed. “Not at all,” Mr. Kellogg replied. “It’s a matter of where you focus your attention.”

Elijah was a prophet of God who’d just seen Him perform an amazing display of His power, but now the prophet was hiding in a cave for fear of the pagan queen (1 Kings 19:1-9). This time, however, God didn’t want to communicate in a powerful way. Even though He had sent a great wind, an earthquake, and even a roaring fire (vv. 11-12), it was time now for Elijah to commune with God personally and quietly. God wanted to speak to the prophet in “a gentle whisper” (v. 12).

Today, there’s a surplus of noise in our lives, yet God still speaks in a quiet voice through the Scriptures and by His Spirit. Taking time to prayerfully focus our attention on God will help us tune in to His comforting, guiding voice.

Reflect & Pray

What noises are crowding in on your life? How can you listen for God’s voice in your busy world?

Dear Father, I thank You that I can listen for Your Spirit to speak to me quietly.

Learn how prayer helps us tune into to God's voice and focuses focuses our thoughts on Him.

My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers

Thursday, May 01, 2025

For we live by faith, not by sight. — 2 Corinthians 5:7 (moffatt)

At times, we are conscious of receiving God’s attentions; we feel the light of his inspiration shining upon us, and we delight to do his will. But when he begins to use us in ways we don’t like, putting us to work at tasks that seem lowly or unimportant, we take on a pathetic attitude. We begin to talk about trials and difficulties, not understanding that God wants us to do our duty in obscurity.

None of us would work in spiritual obscurity if we had the choice. We’d prefer to be illuminated saints, with gilded haloes shining about our heads, on display for all to see. But gilt-edged saints are no good. They are unfit for daily life and completely unlike God. We are men and women, not half-fledged angels. We are here to do the work of the world, and to do it with an infinitely greater power of endurance than those who haven’t been born from above.

Can we do our duty when God has shut up heaven? If we’re always trying to recapture rare moments of inspiration, it’s a sign that it isn’t really God we’re after. Instead, we’re making a fetish of a feeling, insisting that God deliver that feeling to us again and again. How many of us simply refuse to do anything until God inspires us? He never will—not until we take action. God wants us to walk by faith. He wants us to get up on our own, without the touch of his inspiration. When we do, we have the surprising revelation that God was there all along.

Never live for the rare moments. They are God’s surprises. God will give us the touch of inspiration when he sees we aren’t in danger of being led astray by it. We must never make moments of inspiration the standard for our lives. Our standard is our duty.

1 Kings 10-11; Luke 21:20-38

WISDOM FROM OSWALD

We are in danger of being stern where God is tender, and of being tender where God is stern. 

The Love of God—The Message of Invincible Consolation, 673 L

A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft

Thursday, May 01, 2025

ANSWERS THAT AREN'T ANSWERS - #9994

Sometimes when I'm in a store and it's time to pay up, I'll say to the cashier, "Listen, I want to show you something from a museum." And I pull out some cash. I say, "Do you accept cash?" You should see the look! I get this bewildered kind of look, and they're like, "Well, of course we accept cash." Well, it may be the first cash they've gotten in several transactions though. It's probably a given that they see more 'plastic' money than 'paper' money these days.

I think many of us got credit cards in order to make it more convenient to buy items. Instead of being more convenient, credit cards have caused us to buy a lot of things that we can't afford. Somehow when you're shopping with a credit card you... well, you kind of lose touch with reality. I mean, there's no real sense of what you've spent. It feels like you haven't spent anything until the bill comes. And, therefore, these credit cards that were supposed to make life easier somewhat, account for massive debts and financial

bondage in a lot of people's lives.

That credit card was supposed to give us financial freedom. Instead, it's enslaved a whole lot of people. Well, credit cards, like a lot of things in life, can turn out to be an answer that only creates bigger problems.

I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Answers That Aren't Answers."

Our word for today from the Word of God: 2 Chronicles 25. I'll begin reading at verse 7. It's an incident from the life of the King of Judah, the Southern Kingdom. His name is Amaziah. Maybe you remember that the kingdom at one point was divided into two parts; Israel was the Northern Kingdom, Judah the Southern Kingdom. Amaziah was the King of Judah, and he had a major enemy coming against him. So he's hired 100,000 fighting men from Israel.

Here's what it says, "Amaziah called the people of Judah together and he mustered those 20 years old or more and found there were 300,000 men ready for military service able to handle the spear and shield. He also hired 100,000 fighting men from Israel for a hundred talents of silver." Well, that sounds like a good answer doesn't it if you're under military pressure? But it says, "A man of God came to him and said, 'Oh, King, these troops from Israel must not march with you, for the Lord is not with Israel. Even if you go and fight courageously in battle, God will overthrow you before the enemy, for God has the power to help or to overthrow.'"

There's a pretty powerful principle in that story. Amaziah has spent his money on what he thinks is an answer. He's depending on it, but it did not have the blessing of God. The battle's going to be lost if you don't have the blessing of God on it. See, it isn't your effort that matters. It isn't the size of the answer that you have. If you are employing a solution that God can't bless, you can't win.

Now, right now maybe you have a need for love and you are letting an unbeliever fill it. It won't work! God says, "Don't be unequally yoked." See, there are things God can't bless. He can't bless you if your way of doing it is to disobey your parents. Or if it means playing with the truth, flirting with immorality, or running ahead of God's timing. Oh, you may see what looks like an answer. It might make social sense, it might make financial sense, business sense, emotional sense, but if it will cost you the blessing of God, you can't afford it. It's too expensive.

In verse 9 it says the Lord can give you much more than that. Don't waste your time, don't waste your life on an answer that isn't an answer, because it misses the blessing of Almighty God.