Job 26, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals

 Max Lucado Daily: Parents’ Number One Assignment

Proverbs 22:6 says, “Direct your children onto the right path, and when they are older, they will not leave it.”

Straight teeth, straight A’s, or straight posture cannot hold a candle compared to placing a child on the straight spiritual path. The highest privilege and purpose you have as a parent is to lead your child in the way of Christ. The towering questions for Christian parents are these:

Do my kids know Christ?
Have they tasted His grace and found comfort at His cross?
Do they know their death is defeated and their hearts are empowered?

Parents, assignment number one is discipleship. Help your child walk in the way of the Master. What a phenomenal privilege is yours! Imagine the joy you will feel when you stand before Christ, flanked by your wife and children—when your child says, “Thanks, Dad.  Thanks for telling me about Christ.”

From Dad Time

Job 26

Job’s Defense
God Sets a Boundary Between Light and Darkness

Job answered:

“Well, you’ve certainly been a great help to a helpless man!
    You came to the rescue just in the nick of time!
What wonderful advice you’ve given to a mixed-up man!
    What amazing insights you’ve provided!
Where in the world did you learn all this?
    How did you become so inspired?

5-14 “All the buried dead are in torment,
    and all who’ve been drowned in the deep, deep sea.
Hell is ripped open before God,
    graveyards dug up and exposed.
He spreads the skies over unformed space,
    hangs the earth out in empty space.
He pours water into cumulus cloud-bags
    and the bags don’t burst.
He makes the moon wax and wane,
    putting it through its phases.
He draws the horizon out over the ocean,
    sets a boundary between light and darkness.
Thunder crashes and rumbles in the skies.
    Listen! It’s God raising his voice!
By his power he stills sea storms,
    by his wisdom he tames sea monsters.
With one breath he clears the sky,
    with one finger he crushes the sea serpent.
And this is only the beginning,
    a mere whisper of his rule.
    Whatever would we do if he really raised his voice!”

Our Daily Bread reading and devotion    
Sunday, June 27, 2021

Read: Acts 9:36–42

 In Joppa there was a disciple named Tabitha (in Greek her name is Dorcas); she was always doing good and helping the poor. 37 About that time she became sick and died, and her body was washed and placed in an upstairs room. 38 Lydda was near Joppa; so when the disciples heard that Peter was in Lydda, they sent two men to him and urged him, “Please come at once!”

39 Peter went with them, and when he arrived he was taken upstairs to the room. All the widows stood around him, crying and showing him the robes and other clothing that Dorcas had made while she was still with them.

40 Peter sent them all out of the room; then he got down on his knees and prayed. Turning toward the dead woman, he said, “Tabitha, get up.” She opened her eyes, and seeing Peter she sat up. 41 He took her by the hand and helped her to her feet. Then he called for the believers, especially the widows, and presented her to them alive. 42 This became known all over Joppa, and many people believed in the Lord.

INSIGHT
Joppa was Judea’s primary port on the Mediterranean coast. After raising Dorcas from the dead, Peter stayed in Joppa in the house of Simon the tanner (Acts 9:43). While there, Peter went up on the roof to pray and saw a vision that reiterated that God’s salvation blessing is meant for gentiles too (10:9–16; 11:18). It was from Joppa that Jonah sailed for Tarshish instead of going to Nineveh to tell its citizens about God (Jonah 1:3). It’s significant that from Joppa God now calls Peter to go and proclaim the good news to the gentiles (Acts 10:24–48).

By Xochitl Dixon
Legacy of Kindness

All the widows stood around him, crying and showing him the robes and other clothing that Dorcas had made while she was still with them. Acts 9:39

Martha served as a teacher’s aide at an elementary school for over thirty years. Every year, she saved money to buy new coats, scarves, and gloves for students in need. After she lost her fight with leukemia, we held a celebration of life service. In lieu of flowers, people donated hundreds of brand-new winter coats to the students she loved and served for decades. Many people shared stories about the countless ways Martha encouraged others with kind words and thoughtful deeds. Her fellow teachers honored her memory with an annual coat drive for three years after her life ended on this side of eternity. Her legacy of kindness still inspires others to generously serve those in need.

In Acts 9, the apostle Luke shares a story about Dorcas, a woman who was “always doing good and helping the poor” (v. 36). After she got sick and died, the grieving community urged Peter to visit. All the widows showed Peter how Dorcas had lived to serve (v. 39). In a miraculous act of compassion, Peter brought Dorcas back to life. The news of Dorcas’ resurrection spread, and “many people believed in the Lord” (v. 42). But it was Dorcas’ commitment to serving others in practical ways that touched the hearts in her community and revealed the power of loving generosity.

How can you love someone with your kind words and deeds today? How has God used someone else’s kindness to draw you closer to Him?

Loving God, please help me to love others in practical ways each day so I can leave a legacy of kindness that points others straight to You.

My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Sunday, June 27, 2021
The Overshadowing of God’s Personal Deliverance

"…I am with you to deliver you," says the Lord. —Jeremiah 1:8

God promised Jeremiah that He would deliver him personally— “…your life shall be as a prize to you…” (Jeremiah 39:18). That is all God promises His children. Wherever God sends us, He will guard our lives. Our personal property and possessions are to be a matter of indifference to us, and our hold on these things should be very loose. If this is not the case, we will have panic, heartache, and distress. Having the proper outlook is evidence of the deeply rooted belief in the overshadowing of God’s personal deliverance.

The Sermon on the Mount indicates that when we are on a mission for Jesus Christ, there is no time to stand up for ourselves. Jesus says, in effect, “Don’t worry about whether or not you are being treated justly.” Looking for justice is actually a sign that we have been diverted from our devotion to Him. Never look for justice in this world, but never cease to give it. If we look for justice, we will only begin to complain and to indulge ourselves in the discontent of self-pity, as if to say, “Why should I be treated like this?” If we are devoted to Jesus Christ, we have nothing to do with what we encounter, whether it is just or unjust. In essence, Jesus says, “Continue steadily on with what I have told you to do, and I will guard your life. If you try to guard it yourself, you remove yourself from My deliverance.” Even the most devout among us become atheistic in this regard— we do not believe Him. We put our common sense on the throne and then attach God’s name to it. We do lean to our own understanding, instead of trusting God with all our hearts (see Proverbs 3:5-6).


WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS

Much of the misery in our Christian life comes not because the devil tackles us, but because we have never understood the simple laws of our make-up. We have to treat the body as the servant of Jesus Christ: when the body says “Sit,” and He says “Go,” go! When the body says “Eat,” and He says “Fast,” fast! When the body says “Yawn,” and He says “Pray,” pray! Biblical Ethics, 107 R

Bible in a Year: Job 8-10; Acts 8:26-40

Job 25 , Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals

 
Max Lucado Daily: She Called Me Daddy

When my daughter Sara was in the second grade, we took her desk hunting at a store that specializes in unpainted furniture. But when she learned we weren't taking the desk home that day, she was upset. "But, Daddy, I wanted to take it home today." Much to her credit, she didn't stomp her feet and demand her way. She did, however, set out on an urgent course to change her father's mind.
"Daddy, don't you think we could paint it ourselves?" "Daddy, please, let's take it home today." After a bit she disappeared, only to return, arms open wide, bubbling with a discovery. "Guess what, Daddy.  It'll fit in the back of the car!" The fact that she'd measured the trunk with her arms softened my heart.  The clincher, though, was the name she called me… Daddy.  The Lucado family took a desk home that day.
From Dad Time

Job 25

Bildad’s Third Attack
Even the Stars Aren’t Perfect in God’s Eyes

Bildad the Shuhite again attacked Job:

“God is sovereign, God is fearsome—
    everything in the cosmos fits and works in his plan.
Can anyone count his angel armies?
    Is there any place where his light doesn’t shine?
How can a mere mortal presume to stand up to God?
    How can an ordinary person pretend to be guiltless?
Why, even the moon has its flaws,
    even the stars aren’t perfect in God’s eyes,
So how much less, plain men and women—
    slugs and maggots by comparison!”

Our Daily Bread reading and devotion    
Saturday, June 26, 2021

Read: Jeremiah 29:10–14

This is what the Lord says: “When seventy years are completed for Babylon, I will come to you and fulfill my good promise to bring you back to this place. 11 For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. 12 Then you will call on me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. 13 You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. 14 I will be found by you,” declares the Lord, “and will bring you back from captivity.[a] I will gather you from all the nations and places where I have banished you,” declares the Lord, “and will bring you back to the place from which I carried you into exile.”

Footnotes
Jeremiah 29:14 Or will restore your fortunes

INSIGHT
Because the people of Judah had been chronically unfaithful and disobedient (Jeremiah 7:22–26; 11:7–10), God brought a pagan nation from afar to discipline them (1:15–16; 5:15–19; 6:22–23). They’d be exiled to Babylon for seventy years (25:9–11). Jeremiah witnessed the destruction of Jerusalem and the temple and the deportations of the Israelites to Babylon (ch. 52), which included Daniel and his friends (Daniel 1:6). But God didn’t abandon His people in Babylon forever. He promised to bring His people back to the promised land (Jeremiah 29:10). Some eight hundred years earlier, Moses had prophesized the exile and the return (Deuteronomy 30:3–5). Daniel read Jeremiah toward the end of the seventy years of exile, which led him to ask God to act upon His promise to bring the Israelites back to Canaan (Daniel 9:1–4).

By Con Campbell
He Hears Us

Then you will call on me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. Jeremiah 29:12

United States President Franklin D. Roosevelt often endured long receiving lines at the White House. As the story is told, he complained that no one paid attention to what was said. So, he decided to experiment at a reception. To everyone who passed down the line and shook his hand, he said, “I murdered my grandmother this morning.” The guests responded with phrases like, “Marvelous! Keep up the good work. God bless you, Sir.” It wasn’t until the end of the line, greeting the ambassador from Bolivia, that his words were actually heard. Nonplussed, the ambassador whispered, “I’m sure she had it coming.”

Do you ever wonder if people are really listening? Or worse, do you fear that God isn’t listening? We can tell if people are listening based on their responses or eye contact. But how do we know if God is listening? Should we rely on feelings? Or see if God answers our prayers?

After seventy years of exile in Babylon, God promised to bring His people back to Jerusalem and secure their future (Jeremiah 29:10–11). When they called upon Him, He heard them (v. 12). They knew that God heard their prayers because He promised to listen. And the same is true for us (1 John 5:14). We don’t need to rely on feelings or wait for a sign to know that God listens to us. He’s promised to listen, and He always keeps His promises (2 Corinthians 1:20).

When have you felt that God wasn’t listening? Why did you feel that way?

Dear God, thank You for hearing my prayers, though I may sometimes doubt it. Help me to trust Your promise that You listen to me.

My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Saturday, June 26, 2021
Drawing on the Grace of God— Now

We…plead with you not to receive the grace of God in vain. —2 Corinthians 6:1

The grace you had yesterday will not be sufficient for today. Grace is the overflowing favor of God, and you can always count on it being available to draw upon as needed. “…in much patience, in tribulations, in needs, in distresses”— that is where our patience is tested (2 Corinthians 6:4). Are you failing to rely on the grace of God there? Are you saying to yourself, “Oh well, I won’t count this time”? It is not a question of praying and asking God to help you— it is taking the grace of God now. We tend to make prayer the preparation for our service, yet it is never that in the Bible. Prayer is the practice of drawing on the grace of God. Don’t say, “I will endure this until I can get away and pray.” Pray now — draw on the grace of God in your moment of need. Prayer is the most normal and useful thing; it is not simply a reflex action of your devotion to God. We are very slow to learn to draw on God’s grace through prayer.

“…in stripes, in imprisonments, in tumults, in labors…” (2 Corinthians 6:5)— in all these things, display in your life a drawing on the grace of God, which will show evidence to yourself and to others that you are a miracle of His. Draw on His grace now, not later. The primary word in the spiritual vocabulary is now. Let circumstances take you where they will, but keep drawing on the grace of God in whatever condition you may find yourself. One of the greatest proofs that you are drawing on the grace of God is that you can be totally humiliated before others without displaying even the slightest trace of anything but His grace.

“…having nothing….” Never hold anything in reserve. Pour yourself out, giving the best that you have, and always be poor. Never be diplomatic and careful with the treasure God gives you. “…and yet possessing all things”— this is poverty triumphant (2 Corinthians 6:10).

WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS

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

Bible in a Year: Job 5-7; Acts 8:1-25

Matthew 12:1-23 , Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals

Max Lucado Daily: UNDESERVED MERCY - June 25, 2021

Forgiveness is the act of applying your undeserved mercy to your undeserved hurts. You didn’t deserve to be hurt, but neither do you deserve to be forgiven. Does it not make sense to give grace to others? You’ve been immersed in forgiveness, submerged in grace. Can you, standing as you are, shoulder-high in God’s ocean of grace, not fill a cup and offer the happiness of forgiveness to others?

In 2015 the world watched in horror as ISIS released its hatred on the streets of Paris. Antoine Leiris lost his wife to their bullets. But he did not lose his heart to hate. He resolved to focus his energy on loving his son, not hating his attackers.

Let’s do likewise. Offer to others the grace you’ve been given. It’s time to forgive, just as God, in Christ, forgave you. This is how happiness happens.

Matthew 12:1-23

In Charge of the Sabbath

One Sabbath, Jesus was strolling with his disciples through a field of ripe grain. Hungry, the disciples were pulling off the heads of grain and munching on them. Some Pharisees reported them to Jesus: “Your disciples are breaking the Sabbath rules!”

3-5 Jesus said, “Really? Didn’t you ever read what David and his companions did when they were hungry, how they entered the sanctuary and ate fresh bread off the altar, bread that no one but priests were allowed to eat? And didn’t you ever read in God’s Law that priests carrying out their Temple duties break Sabbath rules all the time and it’s not held against them?

6-8 “There is far more at stake here than religion. If you had any idea what this Scripture meant—‘I prefer a flexible heart to an inflexible ritual’—you wouldn’t be nitpicking like this. The Son of Man is no yes-man to the Sabbath; he’s in charge.”

9-10 When Jesus left the field, he entered their meeting place. There was a man there with a crippled hand. They said to Jesus, “Is it legal to heal on the Sabbath?” They were baiting him.

11-14 He replied, “Is there a person here who, finding one of your lambs fallen into a ravine, wouldn’t, even though it was a Sabbath, pull it out? Surely kindness to people is as legal as kindness to animals!” Then he said to the man, “Hold out your hand.” He held it out and it was healed. The Pharisees walked out furious, sputtering about how they were going to ruin Jesus.

In Charge of Everything
15-21 Jesus, knowing they were out to get him, moved on. A lot of people followed him, and he healed them all. He also cautioned them to keep it quiet, following guidelines set down by Isaiah:

Look well at my handpicked servant;
    I love him so much, take such delight in him.
I’ve placed my Spirit on him;
    he’ll decree justice to the nations.
But he won’t yell, won’t raise his voice;
    there’ll be no commotion in the streets.
He won’t walk over anyone’s feelings,
    won’t push you into a corner.
Before you know it, his justice will triumph;
    the mere sound of his name will signal hope, even
        among far-off unbelievers.

No Neutral Ground
22-23 Next a poor demon-afflicted wretch, both blind and deaf, was set down before him. Jesus healed him, gave him his sight and hearing. The people who saw it were impressed—“This has to be the Son of David!”

Our Daily Bread reading and devotion    
Friday, June 25, 2021

Read: Ephesians 4:32–5:10

Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you. 5 1 Follow God’s example, therefore, as dearly loved children 2 and walk in the way of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.

3 But among you there must not be even a hint of sexual immorality, or of any kind of impurity, or of greed, because these are improper for God’s holy people. 4 Nor should there be obscenity, foolish talk or coarse joking, which are out of place, but rather thanksgiving. 5 For of this you can be sure: No immoral, impure or greedy person—such a person is an idolater—has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God.[a] 6 Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of such things God’s wrath comes on those who are disobedient. 7 Therefore do not be partners with them.

8 For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Live as children of light 9 (for the fruit of the light consists in all goodness, righteousness and truth) 10 and find out what pleases the Lord.

Footnotes
Ephesians 5:5 Or kingdom of the Messiah and God

INSIGHT
It’s fundamental to believers in Jesus that we understand we are children of the living God. In Ephesians 5, Paul gives us the key to how we’re to live in that knowledge: “as dearly loved children, . . . walk in the way of love, just as Christ loved us” (vv. 1–2). Then Paul outlines some of the things this love will compel us to avoid, including sexual immorality, greed, and vulgar language (vv. 3–4). The apostle urges us by the power of His Spirit to replace these sinful behaviors with a lifestyle of thanks. Paul concludes his thought with this encouragement: “Live as children of light . . . and find out what pleases the Lord” (vv. 8–10). This instruction is in keeping with a major theme of Paul’s letters—transformation: “If anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!” (2 Corinthians 5:17).

By Sheridan Voysey
Children of God

Follow God’s example, therefore, as dearly loved children and walk in the way of love. Ephesians 5:1–2

I once spoke at a secular conference for childless couples. Heartbroken over their infertility, many attendees despaired at their future. Having walked the childless path too, I tried to encourage them. “You can have a meaningful identity without becoming parents,” I said. “I believe you are fearfully and wonderfully made, and there’s new purpose for you to find.”

A woman later approached me in tears. “Thank you,” she said. “I’ve felt worthless being childless and needed to hear that I’m fearfully and wonderfully made.” I asked the woman if she was a believer in Jesus. “I walked away from God years ago,” she said. “But I need a relationship with Him again.”

Times like this remind me how profound the gospel is. Some identities, like “mother” and “father,” are hard for some to attain. Others, like those based on a career, can be lost through unemployment. But through Jesus we become God’s “dearly loved children”—an identity that can never be stolen (Ephesians 5:1). And then we can “walk in the way of love”—a life purpose that transcends any role or employment status (v. 2).

All human beings are “fearfully and wonderfully made” (Psalm 139:14), and those who follow Jesus become children of God (John 1:12–13). Once in despair, that woman left in hope—about to find an identity and purpose bigger than this world can give.

Is there someone in despair whom you can affirm as “wonderfully made” today? With whom can you share the offer of becoming a child of God?

Father, life in all its fullness is Yours alone to give. I open my hands to accept it.

My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Friday, June 25, 2021
Receiving Yourself in the Fires of Sorrow

…what shall I say? "Father, save Me from this hour"? But for this purpose I came to this hour. "Father, glorify Your name." —John 12:27-28

As a saint of God, my attitude toward sorrow and difficulty should not be to ask that they be prevented, but to ask that God protect me so that I may remain what He created me to be, in spite of all my fires of sorrow. Our Lord received Himself, accepting His position and realizing His purpose, in the midst of the fire of sorrow. He was saved not from the hour, but out of the hour.

We say that there ought to be no sorrow, but there is sorrow, and we have to accept and receive ourselves in its fires. If we try to evade sorrow, refusing to deal with it, we are foolish. Sorrow is one of the biggest facts in life, and there is no use in saying it should not be. Sin, sorrow, and suffering are, and it is not for us to say that God has made a mistake in allowing them.

Sorrow removes a great deal of a person’s shallowness, but it does not always make that person better. Suffering either gives me to myself or it destroys me. You cannot find or receive yourself through success, because you lose your head over pride. And you cannot receive yourself through the monotony of your daily life, because you give in to complaining. The only way to find yourself is in the fires of sorrow. Why it should be this way is immaterial. The fact is that it is true in the Scriptures and in human experience. You can always recognize who has been through the fires of sorrow and received himself, and you know that you can go to him in your moment of trouble and find that he has plenty of time for you. But if a person has not been through the fires of sorrow, he is apt to be contemptuous, having no respect or time for you, only turning you away. If you will receive yourself in the fires of sorrow, God will make you nourishment for other people.

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

Bible in a Year: Job 3-4; Acts 7:44-60

A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Friday, June 25, 2021

The Only Identities That Really Matter - #8990

Much of my life I've been interested in following politics. But even I'm sick of politics right now! And you know what? Maybe you've OD'd on it. You know, all those pundits on the news. You know, they start to sound like indistinct blather when adults speak out on a Charlie Brown special. You know?

Oh, and the signs during an election! I never could wait til they come down and I can see my neighbor's house again. Oh, and the joy to think, "I can turn on my TV and there will not be one political commercial, showing your opponent as Frankenstein or Bride of Frankenstein."

But sadly, America's a very fractured nation politically. You know, after an election some people are all excited because their candidate won, and some are saying, "Boy, the end of everything must be close because my candidate lost. The other guy won."

Well, I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "The Only Identities That Really Matter."

You know, after waking up and hearing election results in America, sometimes I think of all the views that I'd heard on TV describing how they see America. And you know what? That's the time I ask God to help me see my town, my country, my world through His eyes. "What do You see, Lord?"

And He said, "Ron, there are only two categories that really matter. When you look at people, see them as being on one of two lists." And it wasn't Republican or Democrat or Independent. No, I remembered something I read about the days after the Titanic sank. White Star Lines, the owners of the Titanic, set up a room in Liverpool, England, where people could wait to learn the fate of a passenger that they loved. Occasionally, a company official would come in and add a name to one of two lists, posted on a large board. The lists simply read: "Known to be saved" ... "Known to be lost."

Everyone you love - everyone in your personal world - everyone hearing or reading this is on one of two lists. They're described in our word for today from the Word of God in 1 John 5:11-12. It says, "God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. He that has the Son has life; He that does not have the Son of God does not have life." Known to be saved...Known to be lost.

It shouldn't be what political list or religious list a person's on that defines my relationship with them - it should be which of God's lists they're on. When we get to heaven, there won't be any "Republicans," or "Democrats," or "progressives," or "conservatives." No "Baptists," no "Methodists," or "Roman Catholics." God sees people in terms of their eternal destination, and it defines His relationship with us.

We were all in one doomed category - sinners; people who have marginalized our Creator rather than enthroning Him. Who have defied His ways and done what we wanted to do, and cut off from Him because He's sinless and we're full of sin.

But in spite of our disregard and disrespect of the God who put us here, He refused to leave us lost. He sent His precious Son, Jesus, to do what only He could do - pay for our sin by paying our death penalty on the Cross. So heaven or hell all comes down to what I do with Jesus. Whether I leave Him outside my life or put all my trust in Him as my only hope for rescue. "You have the Son, you have life," the Bible said. "You don't have the Son, you don't have life" (1 John 5:12).

Today if you could see God's lists, you'd be on the "Known to be lost" list, huh? But today you could change lists. Because Jesus stands ready to erase the sin of your life from God's book, forgive every one of those sins, and give you eternal life that you could never deserve, because He gave His life for you.

Let today be the day you say, "Jesus, I'm Yours." Check out our website. It will show you how to get started with Him. ANewStory.com - that's the site.

You know, we've heard a lot of people being defined by their label. I want to see what God sees, don't you? Saved - Lost. I want to love those people like He does, because it breaks His heart. It breaks His heart for you to be lost. That's why He sent His Son. It's time you belong to Him.

Job 24 , Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals

Max Lucado Daily: FORGIVING ONE ANOTHER - June 24, 2021

The question is not “Did you get hurt?” The question is “Are you going to let the hurt harden you?” Wouldn’t you prefer to be “tenderhearted, forgiving one another”? Try these steps:

Decide what you need to forgive. Be specific. Narrow it down to the identifiable offense.

Ask yourself why it hurts. Why does this offense sting? What about it leaves you wounded?

Take it to Jesus. Talk to Jesus about the offense until the anger subsides. And when it returns, talk to Jesus again.

Tell your offender. If it feels safe, simply explain the offense and the way it makes you feel.

Pray for your offender. You cannot force reconciliation, but you can offer intercession.

Conduct a funeral. Bury the offense in the cemetery known as “Moving on with Life.”

This is how happiness happens.

Job 24

An Illusion of Security

“But if Judgment Day isn’t hidden from the Almighty,
    why are we kept in the dark?
There are people out there getting by with murder—
    stealing and lying and cheating.
They rip off the poor
    and exploit the unfortunate,
Push the helpless into the ditch,
    bully the weak so that they fear for their lives.
The poor, like stray dogs and cats,
    scavenge for food in back alleys.
They sort through the garbage of the rich,
    eke out survival on handouts.
Homeless, they shiver through cold nights on the street;
    they’ve no place to lay their heads.
Exposed to the weather, wet and frozen,
    they huddle in makeshift shelters.
Nursing mothers have their babies snatched from them;
    the infants of the poor are kidnapped and sold.
They go about patched and threadbare;
    even the hard workers go hungry.
No matter how backbreaking their labor,
    they can never make ends meet.
People are dying right and left, groaning in torment.
    The wretched cry out for help
    and God does nothing, acts like nothing’s wrong!

13-17 “Then there are those who avoid light at all costs,
    who scorn the light-filled path.
When the sun goes down, the murderer gets up—
    kills the poor and robs the defenseless.
Sexual predators can’t wait for nightfall,
    thinking, ‘No one can see us now.’
Burglars do their work at night,
    but keep well out of sight through the day.
    They want nothing to do with light.
Deep darkness is morning for that bunch;
    they make the terrors of darkness their companions in crime.

18-25 “They are scraps of wood floating on the water—
    useless, cursed junk, good for nothing.
As surely as snow melts under the hot, summer sun,
    sinners disappear in the grave.
The womb has forgotten them, worms have relished them—
    nothing that is evil lasts.
Unscrupulous,
    they prey on those less fortunate.
However much they strut and flex their muscles,
    there’s nothing to them. They’re hollow.
They may have an illusion of security,
    but God has his eye on them.
They may get their brief successes,
    but then it’s over, nothing to show for it.
Like yesterday’s newspaper,
    they’re used to wrap up the garbage.
You’re free to try to prove me a liar,
    but you won’t be able to do it.”

Our Daily Bread reading and devotion    
Thursday, June 24, 2021
Read: 2 Corinthians 12:5–10

 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 he had (2 Corinthians 12:1–4; see Acts 9:1–9; 16:6–10). Paul considered such boasting utterly distasteful (2 Corinthians 12:1, 6) but necessary to appropriately respond to his critics’ misguided spirituality and pride. Paul preferred to boast about his weaknesses (v. 5), speaking of “a thorn in [his] flesh” (v. 7). The word thorn was used for anything pointed such as a stake, the sharp end of a fishhook, or a splinter. The implication is that Paul endured physical pain. Some think he may have had an eye affliction (Galatians 4:14–15; 6:11), a weakness resulting from his being blinded on the road to Damascus (Acts 9:9), or a chronic ailment like migraine headaches or epilepsy. While we don’t know what the thorn was, its purpose was to keep Paul humble (2 Corinthians 12:7).

By Amy Boucher Pye
Sharing Your Faith

My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness. 2 Corinthians 12:9

When author and evangelist Becky Pippert lived in Ireland, she longed to share the good news of Jesus with Heather, who’d done her nails for two years. But Heather hadn’t seemed remotely interested. Feeling unable to start a conversation, Becky prayed before her appointment.

While Heather worked on her nails, Becky flipped through an old magazine and paused at a picture of one of the models. When Heather asked why she was so riveted, Becky told her the photograph was of a close friend who’d years before been a Vogue cover model. Becky shared some of her friend’s story of coming to faith in God, which Heather listened to with rapt attention.

Becky left for a trip, and later when she returned to Ireland, she learned that Heather had moved to a new location. Becky reflected, “I had asked God to provide an opportunity to share the gospel, and He did!”

Becky looked to God for help in her weakness, inspired by the apostle Paul. When Paul was weak and pleaded with God to remove the thorn in his flesh, the Lord said, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness” (2 Corinthians 12:9). Paul had learned to rely on God in all things—the big and the small.

When we depend on God to help us love those around us, we too will find opportunities to share our faith authentically.

When has God helped you to share your faith with someone? How could you pray for someone today whom you wish would come to know God?

Loving Jesus, You work through my weaknesses to bring glory to Your Father. Move in my life today, that I might share Your good news of grace.


My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Thursday, June 24, 2021
Reconciling Yourself to the Fact of Sin

This is your hour, and the power of darkness. —Luke 22:53

Not being reconciled to the fact of sin— not recognizing it and refusing to deal with it— produces all the disasters in life. You may talk about the lofty virtues of human nature, but there is something in human nature that will mockingly laugh in the face of every principle you have. If you refuse to agree with the fact that there is wickedness and selfishness, something downright hateful and wrong, in human beings, when it attacks your life, instead of reconciling yourself to it, you will compromise with it and say that it is of no use to battle against it. Have you taken this “hour, and the power of darkness” into account, or do you have a view of yourself which includes no recognition of sin whatsoever? In your human relationships and friendships, have you reconciled yourself to the fact of sin? If not, just around the next corner you will find yourself trapped and you will compromise with it. But if you will reconcile yourself to the fact of sin, you will realize the danger immediately and say, “Yes, I see what this sin would mean.” The recognition of sin does not destroy the basis of friendship— it simply establishes a mutual respect for the fact that the basis of sinful life is disastrous. Always beware of any assessment of life which does not recognize the fact that there is sin.

Jesus Christ never trusted human nature, yet He was never cynical nor suspicious, because He had absolute trust in what He could do for human nature. The pure man or woman is the one who is shielded from harm, not the innocent person. The so-called innocent man or woman is never safe. Men and women have no business trying to be innocent; God demands that they be pure and virtuous. Innocence is the characteristic of a child. Any person is deserving of blame if he is unwilling to reconcile himself to the fact of sin.
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS

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

Bible in a Year: Job 1-2; Acts 7:22-43

A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Thursday, June 24, 2021
Everything You Need - #8989

Nobody thought Gladys Aylward was good enough. During the 1920s, she had heard about the great spiritual need of China, and she sensed God's strong call on her life to go there. But she was only a chambermaid. When she applied to China Inland Mission in London, they rejected her because she wasn't educated enough and she was probably too old to learn the language they said. But Gladys Aylward made it to China and she made such a difference there that a number of books have been written about her life. Hollywood even based a movie on her life, "The Inn of the Sixth Happiness" got an Academy Award winning actress in it too.

In her later years, as she told her story to audiences in many places, they were surprised to hear the commanding speech coming from this very tiny lady who had to stand on a box to even be seen over the pulpit. She said to them: "As I was growing up, I had two great sorrows. First, as my friends kept getting taller, I stopped growing. Secondly, as my friends grew beautiful blonde curly hair, mine was straight black. Then I went to China. And as I looked over the people to whom Jehovah God had sent me, I said to myself, 'These people have hair as black and straight as mine...and they stopped growing when I did.' I bowed my head and I said, 'Lord God, you know what you are doing!'" Yes, He does.

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

Much to her surprise, and much to everyone's surprise, little Gladys Aylward had been equipped with God for everything she needed to carry out His plan for her life. And so have you. I know that because He says so in Ephesians 2:10, our word for today from the Word of God: "We are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do."

That's the message I've given to each of my grandchildren on the day they were born. It's the message I hope will grip your heart and help shape the rest of your life. God has created you for a destiny, and whether or not anyone else can see it, whether or not you've seen it, you are God's workmanship. And don't tell me that God makes things with parts missing or mistakes in them. There are some things God put you on this planet to do for Him. He's had them planned since before there was a you, and He's wired you with everything you need to get it done - everything.

Maybe you're thinking of all the things you're not, all the things you don't have that others have. Stop it! Everything you need for carrying out God's mission for you, you have. And what you don't have, you don't need! Moses argued with God that he wasn't qualified to go to Pharaoh and rescue God's people. But what kind of person did God need? Well, let's see. Someone who knew Egypt, who knew the Jews, and who knew the wilderness. Well, that's three different guys right there. Wrong! Moses was a Jew who had been raised by the Egyptians and who had spent many ye

ars in the wilderness. Moses was perfectly equipped to make a difference for the Lord, and so are you. When Moses continued to plead his inadequacy, he asked, "Who am I that I should go?" God's answer was: "I will be with you...go; I will help you" (Exodus 3:11-12; 4:12).

When you ask, "Who am I, Lord?" He answers, "Wrong question. Who am I?" It's not about who you are. It's about who He is. And all your abilities, your experiences, your battles, your weaknesses, and your strengths - they're all a divine tapestry to make you everything you need to be to do everything He put you here to do. Maybe you've been under-living!

You're His workmanship; you're His masterpiece. This day, open yourself up to Moses' God, to Gladys Aylward's God - the One who loves to use ordinary people to do extraordinary things for Him. Make this the day that you surrender to everything He wants you to be, everything He wants you to do. And let the adventure begin!

Job 23 , Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals

 Max Lucado Daily: WASH FEET - June 23, 2021

Jesus has seen every backstreet, backseat, backhanded moment of our lives. And he has resolved My grace is enough. I can cleanse these people. I will wash away their betrayals. For that reason we must make the Upper Room of Mercy our home address.

Jesus said, “If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet. For I have given you an example that you should do as I have done to you” (John 13:14–15).

You are the creation of a good God, you are made in his image. You are destined to reign in an eternal kingdom. Secure in who you are, you can do what Jesus did.  Throw aside the robe of rights and expectation and make the most courageous of moves: wash feet. This is how happiness happens.

Job 23

Job’s Defense
I’m Completely in the Dark

Job replied:

“I’m not letting up—I’m standing my ground.
    My complaint is legitimate.
God has no right to treat me like this—
    it isn’t fair!
If I knew where on earth to find him,
    I’d go straight to him.
I’d lay my case before him face-to-face,
    give him all my arguments firsthand.
I’d find out exactly what he’s thinking,
    discover what’s going on in his head.
Do you think he’d dismiss me or bully me?
    No, he’d take me seriously.
He’d see a straight-living man standing before him;
    my Judge would acquit me for good of all charges.

8-9 “I travel East looking for him—I find no one;
    then West, but not a trace;
I go North, but he’s hidden his tracks;
    then South, but not even a glimpse.

10-12 “But he knows where I am and what I’ve done.
    He can cross-examine me all he wants, and I’ll pass the test with honors.
I’ve followed him closely, my feet in his footprints,
    not once swerving from his way.
I’ve obeyed every word he’s spoken,
    and not just obeyed his advice—I’ve treasured it.

13-17 “But he is singular and sovereign. Who can argue with him?
    He does what he wants, when he wants to.
He’ll complete in detail what he’s decided about me,
    and whatever else he determines to do.
Is it any wonder that I dread meeting him?
    Whenever I think about it, I get scared all over again.
God makes my heart sink!
    God Almighty gives me the shudders!
I’m completely in the dark,
    I can’t see my hand in front of my face.”

Our Daily Bread reading and devotion    
Wednesday, June 23, 2021
Read: Isaiah 65:17–25

New Heavens and a New Earth
17 “See, I will create
    new heavens and a new earth.
The former things will not be remembered,
    nor will they come to mind.
18 But be glad and rejoice forever
    in what I will create,
for I will create Jerusalem to be a delight
    and its people a joy.
19 I will rejoice over Jerusalem
    and take delight in my people;
the sound of weeping and of crying
    will be heard in it no more.

20 “Never again will there be in it
    an infant who lives but a few days,
    or an old man who does not live out his years;
the one who dies at a hundred
    will be thought a mere child;
the one who fails to reach[a] a hundred
    will be considered accursed.
21 They will build houses and dwell in them;
    they will plant vineyards and eat their fruit.
22 No longer will they build houses and others live in them,
    or plant and others eat.
For as the days of a tree,
    so will be the days of my people;
my chosen ones will long enjoy
    the work of their hands.
23 They will not labor in vain,
    nor will they bear children doomed to misfortune;
for they will be a people blessed by the Lord,
    they and their descendants with them.
24 Before they call I will answer;
    while they are still speaking I will hear.
25 The wolf and the lamb will feed together,
    and the lion will eat straw like the ox,
    and dust will be the serpent’s food.
They will neither harm nor destroy
    on all my holy mountain,”
says the Lord.

Footnotes
Isaiah 65:20 Or the sinner who reaches

INSIGHT
Along with the portrayal of the new heavens and earth found in Isaiah 65, we catch another glimpse in 11:6–9 of this glorious place where animals and mankind live together in peace. Revelation 21–22 echoes many of these wonders and tells us more: “There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away” (21:4). “The throne of God and of the Lamb will be in the city, and his servants will serve him. They will see his face . . . . And they will reign for ever and ever” (22:3–5).

By Arthur Jackson
Imagine This!

I will create new heavens and a new earth. Isaiah 65:17

During the course of a popular home renovation television program, viewers often hear the host say, “Imagine this!” Then she unveils what could be when old things are restored and drab walls and floors are painted or stained. In one episode, after the renovation the homeowner was so overjoyed that, along with other expressions of elation, the words “That’s beautiful!” gushed from her lips three times.

One of the stunning “Imagine this!” passages in the Bible is Isaiah 65:17–25. What a dazzling re-creation scene! The future renovation of heaven and earth is in view (v. 17), and it’s not merely cosmetic. It’s deep and real, life-altering and life-preserving. “They will build houses and dwell in them; they will plant vineyards and eat their fruit” (v. 21). Violence will be a thing of the past: “They will neither harm nor destroy on all my holy mountain” (v. 25).

While the reversals envisioned in Isaiah 65 will be realized in the future, the God who will orchestrate universal restoration is in the business of life-change now. The apostle Paul assures us, “If anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!” (2 Corinthians 5:17). In need of restoration? Has your life been broken by doubt, disobedience, and pain? Life-change through Jesus is real and beautiful and available to those who ask and believe.

What changes can you imagine the God of restoration making in your life? What’s keeping you from believing in Jesus for life-change today?

God of restoration and renovation, You know what changes are needed in my life for me to look more like You. Please work in my heart and life today.

My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Wednesday, June 23, 2021
“Acquainted With Grief”

He is…a Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. —Isaiah 53:3

We are not “acquainted with grief” in the same way our Lord was acquainted with it. We endure it and live through it, but we do not become intimate with it. At the beginning of our lives we do not bring ourselves to the point of dealing with the reality of sin. We look at life through the eyes of reason and say that if a person will control his instincts, and educate himself, he can produce a life that will slowly evolve into the life of God. But as we continue on through life, we find the presence of something which we have not yet taken into account, namely, sin— and it upsets all of our thinking and our plans. Sin has made the foundation of our thinking unpredictable, uncontrollable, and irrational.

We have to recognize that sin is a fact of life, not just a shortcoming. Sin is blatant mutiny against God, and either sin or God must die in my life. The New Testament brings us right down to this one issue— if sin rules in me, God’s life in me will be killed; if God rules in me, sin in me will be killed. There is nothing more fundamental than that. The culmination of sin was the crucifixion of Jesus Christ, and what was true in the history of God on earth will also be true in your history and in mine— that is, sin will kill the life of God in us. We must mentally bring ourselves to terms with this fact of sin. It is the only explanation why Jesus Christ came to earth, and it is the explanation of the grief and sorrow of life.

WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS

If there is only one strand of faith amongst all the corruption within us, God will take hold of that one strand.  Not Knowing Whither, 888 L

Bible in a Year: Esther 9-10; Acts 7:1-21

A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Wednesday, June 23, 2021

Night Lights That Know When to Shine - #8988

I guess we got in the habit when our kids were little. Like night lights. Yeah, we put one in their room. Actually I heard it keeps the monsters in the closet. I hope that's true. Well, we always had one in the bathroom so you wouldn't fall in if you had to go there in the middle of the night. Actually, we always had a night light in the bathroom years later. The new and improved kind. It only went on when the lights went out. But, of course, that's when you need it, right, when it's dark.

I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Night Lights That Know When to Shine."

It's nice to have a light that turns on when it gets dark - especially if that light is a person. Because when you're going through a dark time, you really need someone who brings some light into your life; sort of a human night light. Which I hope you are; which someone you know probably needs right now.

It's the kind of friend described in our word for today from the Word of God in Proverbs 17:17. God says, "A friend loves at all times, and a brother is born for adversity." In other words, a real friend, a real brother is one who's walking in when everybody else is walking out! And that takes the kind of love Jesus has, the kind of love Jesus can give you to give someone else. It's called unconditional love - the kind that has absolutely nothing to do with how the other person is acting, how the other person is treating you, or what the other person can do for you.

But I'm guessing there's someone you know who really needs you to be their night light right now. But you might be holding back. Maybe they've experienced a big hurt, and frankly, you don't know what to say. So, you're avoiding them. They just need your presence, not your words; they need your hug, not your talk; they need your help with some of the everyday stuff that's become too much for them in their dark time.

Or maybe the person who needs you isn't acting very loveable right now. They're angry, they're negative, they're lashing out, they're withdrawn, they're sending off "leave me alone" signals that don't exactly make people feel like trying to reach out to them. But often when people are the least loveable, they need our love the most.

It may, in fact, be a child of yours, another family member, who is acting pretty ugly right now. You can almost bet that it's because they've been wounded somehow, and they're bleeding all over the people close to them. Someone has to disregard all those negative vibes and reach out to them with some love, some tenderness. I'm suspecting that God's "someone" who is supposed to love them might be you.

It's possible there's a fellow believer who has made some serious mistakes, and they've been pretty much written off by other Christians. Maybe God's calling on you to extend the hand of Jesus to them in spite of what they've done. Not to condone it, not to bless what God can't bless, but to let them know there's someone they're safe with.

There are lots of reasons not to be that friend who, according to the Bible, "loves at all times," not to be that brother or sister who is "born for adversity." But here's the real bottom line. It's the nature of Jesus to pursue the most unlovable, the most hurting, and often even the most undeserving. And it's supposed to be the nature of those of us who carry His name.

It's time for that phone call, that text, that email, that letter. It's time for that listening ear. It's time to extend a helping hand. It's time for that visit. It's time for someone to bring the healing love of Jesus into their darkness. Because when it's dark, when the lights have gone out, you need a night light. It's time for you to shine.

Job 22 , Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals

Max Lucado Daily: AS CHRIST FORGAVE YOU - June 22, 2021

The Scripture says, “Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God in Christ forgave you” (Ephesians 4:32).

It was the eve of the Crucifixion and Jesus’ final meal with his followers. He stood up, he hung his cloak on a hook, and he wrapped a towel around his waist, and he poured water into a basin. He washed feet. Jesus used some of his precious final moments in this silent sacrament of humility.

The disciples pledged to stay with their Master. But later that night, when the soldiers marched in, the disciples ran out. And when they looked at their feet in shame, they realized Jesus forgave his betrayers before they betrayed him. Hasn’t he done the same for us? We each have a basin. We’ve each been wounded. But before we knew we needed grace, we were offered it. This is how happiness happens.

Job 22Then Eliphaz the Temanite replied:

2
“Can a man be of benefit to God?
    Can even a wise person benefit him?
3
What pleasure would it give the Almighty if you were righteous?
    What would he gain if your ways were blameless?

4
“Is it for your piety that he rebukes you
    and brings charges against you?
5
Is not your wickedness great?
    Are not your sins endless?
6
You demanded security from your relatives for no reason;
    you stripped people of their clothing, leaving them naked.
7
You gave no water to the weary
    and you withheld food from the hungry,
8
though you were a powerful man, owning land—
    an honored man, living on it.
9
And you sent widows away empty-handed
    and broke the strength of the fatherless.
10
That is why snares are all around you,
    why sudden peril terrifies you,
11
why it is so dark you cannot see,
    and why a flood of water covers you.

12
“Is not God in the heights of heaven?
    And see how lofty are the highest stars!
13
Yet you say, ‘What does God know?
    Does he judge through such darkness?
14
Thick clouds veil him, so he does not see us
    as he goes about in the vaulted heavens.’
15
Will you keep to the old path
    that the wicked have trod?
16
They were carried off before their time,
    their foundations washed away by a flood.
17
They said to God, ‘Leave us alone!
    What can the Almighty do to us?’
18
Yet it was he who filled their houses with good things,
    

so I stand aloof from the plans of the wicked.
19
The righteous see their ruin and rejoice;
    the innocent mock them, saying,
20
‘Surely our foes are destroyed,
    and fire devours their wealth.’

21
“Submit to God and be at peace with him;
    in this way prosperity will come to you.
22
Accept instruction from his mouth
    and lay up his words in your heart.
23
If you return to the Almighty, you will be restored:
    If you remove wickedness far from your tent
24
and assign your nuggets to the dust,
    your gold of Ophir to the rocks in the ravines,
25
then the Almighty will be your gold,
    the choicest silver for you.
26
Surely then you will find delight in the Almighty
    and will lift up your face to God.
27
You will pray to him, and he will hear you,
    and you will fulfill your vows.
28
What you decide on will be done,
    and light will shine on your ways.
29
When people are brought low and you say, ‘Lift them up!’
    then he will save the downcast.
30
He will deliver even one who is not innocent,
    who will be delivered through the cleanness of your hands.”

Our Daily Bread reading and devotion    
Tuesday, June 22, 2021

Read: Genesis 28:10–15, 20–22

Jacob’s Dream at Bethel
10 Jacob left Beersheba and set out for Harran. 11 When he reached a certain place, he stopped for the night because the sun had set. Taking one of the stones there, he put it under his head and lay down to sleep. 12 He had a dream in which he saw a stairway resting on the earth, with its top reaching to heaven, and the angels of God were ascending and descending on it. 13 There above it[a] stood the Lord, and he said: “I am the Lord, the God of your father Abraham and the God of Isaac. I will give you and your descendants the land on which you are lying. 14 Your descendants will be like the dust of the earth, and you will spread out to the west and to the east, to the north and to the south. All peoples on earth will be blessed through you and your offspring.[b] 15 I am with you and will watch over you wherever you go, and I will bring you back to this land. I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you.”

Footnotes
Genesis 28:13 Or There beside him
Genesis 28:14 Or will use your name and the name of your offspring in blessings (see 48:20)

INSIGHT
The significance of the words, “All peoples on earth will be blessed through you and your offspring” (Genesis 28:14), must not be lost in the dynamics of Jacob’s dream. Jacob wasn’t the first to hear God’s promise concerning the destiny of his offspring. Similar words were communicated to Jacob’s grandfather, Abraham, in Genesis 12:3 (see also 22:16–18) and to Isaac (26:3–4). In the New Testament, Peter pointed to this promise in his preaching (Acts 3:25–26; see Genesis 22:18; 26:4). Paul’s writings similarly show that these promises found their ultimate fulfillment in Jesus (Galatians 3:16).

By Tim Gustafson
God Is There

If God will be with me and watch over me . . . then the Lord will be my God. Genesis 28:20–21

Aubrey bought a fleece-lined coat for her aging father, but he died before he could wear it. So she tucked a note of encouragement with a $20 bill into the pocket and donated the jacket to charity.

Ninety miles away, unable to endure his family’s dysfunction any longer, nineteen-year-old Kelly left his house without grabbing a coat. He knew of only one place to turn—the home of his grandmother who prayed for him. Hours later he stepped off a bus and into his grandma’s arms. Shielding him from the winter wind, she said, “We’ve got to get you a coat!” At the mission store, Kelly tried on a coat he liked. Slipping his hands into the pockets he found an envelope—with a $20 bill and Aubrey’s note.

Jacob fled his dysfunctional family in fear for his life (Genesis 27:41–45). When he stopped for the night, God revealed Himself to Jacob in a dream. “I am with you and will watch over you wherever you go,” God told him (28:15). Jacob vowed, “If God will . . . give me food to eat and clothes to wear . . . , then the Lord will be my God” (vv. 20–21).

Jacob made a rudimentary altar and named the spot “God’s house” (v. 22). Kelly takes Aubrey’s note and that $20 wherever he goes. Each serves as a reminder that no matter where we run, God is there.

When you’ve had to “run,” whether literally or metaphorically, where did you go and to whom did you turn? How can you remind yourself of God’s presence in your life?

Father, You’re the One I can always run to. Help me turn to You first.
Read Who’s My Neighbor? at DiscoverySeries.org/Q0308.

My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Tuesday, June 22, 2021

The Unchanging Law of Judgment

With what judgment you judge, you will be judged; and with the measure you use, it will be measured back to you. —Matthew 7:2

This statement is not some haphazard theory, but it is an eternal law of God. Whatever judgment you give will be the very way you are judged. There is a difference between retaliation and retribution. Jesus said that the basis of life is retribution— “with the measure you use, it will be measured back to you.” If you have been shrewd in finding out the shortcomings of others, remember that will be exactly how you will be measured. The way you pay is the way life will pay you back. This eternal law works from God’s throne down to us (see Psalm 18:25-26).

Romans 2:1 applies it in even a more definite way by saying that the one who criticizes another is guilty of the very same thing. God looks not only at the act itself, but also at the possibility of committing it, which He sees by looking at our hearts. To begin with, we do not believe the statements of the Bible. For instance, do we really believe the statement that says we criticize in others the very things we are guilty of ourselves? The reason we see hypocrisy, deceit, and a lack of genuineness in others is that they are all in our own hearts. The greatest characteristic of a saint is humility, as evidenced by being able to say honestly and humbly, “Yes, all those, as well as other evils, would have been exhibited in me if it were not for the grace of God. Therefore, I have no right to judge.”

Jesus said, “Judge not, that you be not judged” (Matthew 7:1). He went on to say, in effect, “If you do judge, you will be judged in exactly the same way.” Who of us would dare to stand before God and say, “My God, judge me as I have judged others”? We have judged others as sinners— if God should judge us in the same way, we would be condemned to hell. Yet God judges us on the basis of the miraculous atonement by the Cross of Christ.


WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS

Faith never knows where it is being led, but it loves and knows the One Who is leading.  My Utmost for His Highest, March 19, 761 L

Bible in a Year: Esther 6-8; Acts 6

A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Tuesday, June 22, 2021

Your "No Vacancy" Sign - #8987

You always have to hold your breath when your little children are with other adults, because you never know what they might reveal about life at home. It pays to live with nothing to hide. Right? A friend was babysitting his three-year-old grandson not long ago, and this little guy kept the conversation active with a stream of consciousness, a series of comments on a lot of subjects. Suddenly the three-year-old brought up things he wanted to do when he was an adult. One of them was potentially a little revealing. He said, "I'm going to have an office in my house, and I'm going to tell my children not to bother me." Oooo! His daddy has an office in the house. I wonder if this little guy learned that script at home?

I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Your 'No Vacancy' Sign."

Over the years, you've probably driven to some motel all tired and very ready to stop, only to be greeted by that discouraging sign, "No Vacancy." Unfortunately, we sometimes do that to our children and our spouse. We hang out a "no vacancy" sign that says, "I don't have any room for you right now." If it happens pretty often, you could have one very sad, very frustrated, and maybe a very explosive family.

Honestly, there are those times when we do need to close the door and focus. But it can't help any child to be associated with the word "bother." You can explain why you need to work without interruption, as long as they know that you're available if they really need you, and as long as you let them know when you will be available. But in too many homes, this business of being unavailable to the people who need us most is not the exception. It's like a way of life. And without meaning to, we may be telling someone we love very much that whatever always takes you away is more important to you than they are. After all, you keep leaving them and excluding them to do it. Right?

There's a wonderful blueprint for human relationships in Ephesians, chapters 4 and 5. In chapter 5, beginning with verse 1, our word for today from the Word of God, we get a fundamental equation of what it means to love someone. It says, "Be imitators of God, as dearly loved children, and live a life of love, just as Christ loved us and gave Himself up for us as a...sacrifice to God." The equation is simple but challenging: "love equals sacrifice." And sacrifice means giving something you really value for the person you love.

In your busy life, there might be nothing you have less of than time. And your time, your availability, is what your children and your spouse need most. To love them is to give them time you think you don't have because no one else on earth can be daddy or mommy to them; no one else can be husband or wife. It's really the only role in your life where you're irreplaceable and indispensable.

In a later verse, this passage tells us to "submit to one another out of reverence for Christ." That submit word means to put someone ahead of you. Then it proceeds to talk about husbands, wives, children, and parents - all of whom, as God's kind of person, will put the other ahead of themselves.

Your family needs your availability to them physically, emotionally, and spiritually. It's best if you actually offer your availability to them right away, then they don't have to burn down the house or raise the roof to get your attention. You gave it willingly. Make it a goal to take time with each one to make them feel like the only person in the world at that moment. Think about each one's emotional ledger. Every time you're unavailable or gone, there's a debit in their life. So you need to consciously and as soon as possible, balance that account with the credit of some focused time with them.

Don't make your child, your husband, your wife feel shut out of your life by an invisible but very real "no vacancy" sign. Just always have room for them even if it means sacrifice. People who know they're loved and important and listened to don't have to start looking somewhere else for what you didn't give them - somewhere that could scar their life and break your heart.

Matthew 11, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals

 Max Lucado Daily:STEP TOWARD FORGIVENESS - June 21, 2021

Resentment sucks satisfaction from the soul. Bitterness consumes it. Revenge has a monstrous appetite. One act of retaliation is never enough. Grudges send us on a downward spiral.

Some people perceive the path of forgiveness to be impossibly steep, so let’s be realistic. Forgiveness does not pardon the offense, excuse the misdeed, or ignore it. Forgiveness is not even necessarily reconciliation. The phrase “forgive and forget” sets an unreachable standard. Painful memories are not like old clothing, easily shed. Forgiveness is simply the act of changing your attitude toward the offender. It’s moving from a desire to harm toward an openness to be at peace. A step in the direction of forgiveness is a decisive step toward happiness.


Matthew 11

John the Baptizer

When Jesus finished placing this charge before his twelve disciples, he went on to teach and preach in their villages.

2-3 John, meanwhile, had been locked up in prison. When he got wind of what Jesus was doing, he sent his own disciples to ask, “Are you the One we’ve been expecting, or are we still waiting?”

4-6 Jesus told them, “Go back and tell John what’s going on:

The blind see,
The lame walk,
Lepers are cleansed,
The deaf hear,
The dead are raised,
The wretched of the earth learn that God is on their side.

“Is this what you were expecting? Then count yourselves most blessed!”

7-10 When John’s disciples left to report, Jesus started talking to the crowd about John. “What did you expect when you went out to see him in the wild? A weekend camper? Hardly. What then? A sheik in silk pajamas? Not in the wilderness, not by a long shot. What then? A prophet? That’s right, a prophet! Probably the best prophet you’ll ever hear. He is the prophet that Malachi announced when he wrote, ‘I’m sending my prophet ahead of you, to make the road smooth for you.’

11-14 “Let me tell you what’s going on here: No one in history surpasses John the Baptizer; but in the kingdom he prepared you for, the lowliest person is ahead of him. For a long time now people have tried to force themselves into God’s kingdom. But if you read the books of the Prophets and God’s Law closely, you will see them culminate in John, teaming up with him in preparing the way for the Messiah of the kingdom. Looked at in this way, John is the ‘Elijah’ you’ve all been expecting to arrive and introduce the Messiah.

15 “Are you listening to me? Really listening?

16-19 “How can I account for this generation? The people have been like spoiled children whining to their parents, ‘We wanted to skip rope, and you were always too tired; we wanted to talk, but you were always too busy.’ John came fasting and they called him crazy. I came feasting and they called me a boozer, a friend of the misfits. Opinion polls don’t count for much, do they? The proof of the pudding is in the eating.”

The Unforced Rhythms of Grace
20 Next Jesus unleashed on the cities where he had worked the hardest but whose people had responded the least, shrugging their shoulders and going their own way.

21-24 “Doom to you, Chorazin! Doom, Bethsaida! If Tyre and Sidon had seen half of the powerful miracles you have seen, they would have been on their knees in a minute. At Judgment Day they’ll get off easy compared to you. And Capernaum! With all your peacock strutting, you are going to end up in the abyss. If the people of Sodom had had your chances, the city would still be around. At Judgment Day they’ll get off easy compared to you.”

25-26 Abruptly Jesus broke into prayer: “Thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth. You’ve concealed your ways from sophisticates and know-it-alls, but spelled them out clearly to ordinary people. Yes, Father, that’s the way you like to work.”

27 Jesus resumed talking to the people, but now tenderly. “The Father has given me all these things to do and say. This is a unique Father-Son operation, coming out of Father and Son intimacies and knowledge. No one knows the Son the way the Father does, nor the Father the way the Son does. But I’m not keeping it to myself; I’m ready to go over it line by line with anyone willing to listen.

28-30 “Are you tired? Worn out? Burned out on religion? Come to me. Get away with me and you’ll recover your life. I’ll show you how to take a real rest. Walk with me and work with me—watch how I do it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace. I won’t lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you. Keep company with me and you’ll learn to live freely and lightly.”

Our Daily Bread reading and devotion    
Monday, June 21, 2021
Read: Proverbs 21:21–31

Whoever pursues righteousness and love
    finds life, prosperity[a] and honor.

22 One who is wise can go up against the city of the mighty
    and pull down the stronghold in which they trust.

23 Those who guard their mouths and their tongues
    keep themselves from calamity.

24 The proud and arrogant person—“Mocker” is his name—
    behaves with insolent fury.

25 The craving of a sluggard will be the death of him,
    because his hands refuse to work.
26 All day long he craves for more,
    but the righteous give without sparing.

27 The sacrifice of the wicked is detestable—
    how much more so when brought with evil intent!

28 A false witness will perish,
    but a careful listener will testify successfully.

29 The wicked put up a bold front,
    but the upright give thought to their ways.

30 There is no wisdom, no insight, no plan
    that can succeed against the Lord.

31 The horse is made ready for the day of battle,
    but victory rests with the Lord.

Footnotes
Proverbs 21:21 Or righteousness

INSIGHT
In the ancient world, the horse and chariot were prized as superior weapons of war, a game changer in battles that determined either victory or defeat. Proverbs 21:30–31, set in the context of warfare, extols the sovereignty of God in human affairs. God’s purposes and plans will prevail, so it’s foolish to fight against or without Him. Victory and deliverance come only from God, who turns battles His way to fulfill His sovereign purposes. Despite the Egyptian’s mighty cavalry (Exodus 14:9) and the Canaanites’ many horses and chariots (Joshua 11:4–9), the forces raging against the Israelites were defeated, confirming that “victory rests with the Lord” (Proverbs 21:31). In fact, Israel’s kings were specifically warned not to put their trust in horses but only in God (Psalm 20:7; 33:16–19; Isaiah 31:1).

By Patricia Raybon
He Will Fight for You

The horse is made ready for the day of battle, but victory rests with the Lord. Proverbs 21:31

The wounded horse was named Drummer Boy, one of 112 mounts carrying British soldiers into battle during the famed Charge of the Light Brigade. The animal showed such bravery and stamina that his assigned commander, Lieutenant Colonel de Salis, decided his horse deserved a medal as much as his valiant men. This was done even though their military action against enemy forces failed. Yet the cavalry’s valor, matched by the courage of their horses, established the clash as one of Britain’s greatest military moments, still celebrated today.

The confrontation, however, shows the wisdom of an ancient Bible proverb: “The horse is made ready for the day of battle, but victory rests with the Lord” (Proverbs 21:31). Scripture affirms this principle clearly. “For the Lord your God is the one who goes with you to fight for you against your enemies to give you victory” (Deuteronomy 20:4). Indeed, even against the sting of death, wrote the apostle Paul, “Thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ” (1 Corinthians 15:56–57).

Knowing this, our task still is to be prepared for life’s tough tests. To build a ministry, we study, work, and pray. To create beautiful art, we master a skill. To conquer a mountain, we secure our tools and build our strength. Then prepared, we’re more than conquerors through Christ’s strong love.

What battles or challenges are you preparing for now? If your victory rests in God, why should you prepare for this life test?

Heavenly Father, as I approach life’s great tests, inspire me to prepare my heart so that You get the victory.

My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Monday, June 21, 2021
The Ministry of the Inner Life

You are…a royal priesthood… —1 Peter 2:9

By what right have we become “a royal priesthood”? It is by the right of the atonement by the Cross of Christ that this has been accomplished. Are we prepared to purposely disregard ourselves and to launch out into the priestly work of prayer? The continual inner-searching we do in an effort to see if we are what we ought to be generates a self-centered, sickly type of Christianity, not the vigorous and simple life of a child of God. Until we get into this right and proper relationship with God, it is simply a case of our “hanging on by the skin of our teeth,” although we say, “What a wonderful victory I have!” Yet there is nothing at all in that which indicates the miracle of redemption. Launch out in reckless, unrestrained belief that the redemption is complete. Then don’t worry anymore about yourself, but begin to do as Jesus Christ has said, in essence, “Pray for the friend who comes to you at midnight, pray for the saints of God, and pray for all men.” Pray with the realization that you are perfect only in Christ Jesus, not on the basis of this argument: “Oh, Lord, I have done my best; please hear me now.”

How long is it going to take God to free us from the unhealthy habit of thinking only about ourselves? We must get to the point of being sick to death of ourselves, until there is no longer any surprise at anything God might tell us about ourselves. We cannot reach and understand the depths of our own meagerness. There is only one place where we are right with God, and that is in Christ Jesus. Once we are there, we have to pour out our lives for all we are worth in this ministry of the inner life.

WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS

“When the Son of man cometh, shall He find faith on the earth?” We all have faith in good principles, in good management, in good common sense, but who amongst us has faith in Jesus Christ? Physical courage is grand, moral courage is grander, but the man who trusts Jesus Christ in the face of the terrific problems of life is worth a whole crowd of heroes.  The Highest Good, 544 R

Bible in a Year: Esther 3-5; Acts 5:22-42

A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Monday, June 21, 2021

Spending It All On the One He Loves - #8986

My oldest son had saved up for this baseball card show for months. He was about nine at the time, and he was already good at knowing which cards to buy; he was really a sharp investor. One of his biggest frustrations was that all of my '50s vintage baseball cards had been thrown out when we moved during my childhood, so he never quite forgave his grandmother for that. But imagine what they could have been worth by now! But I shared with him that when I was a kid I liked to turn in Coke bottles and get deposit money, and I'd get baseball cards with that myself.

I was trying to get the cards of all the players from the favorite team of my boyhood, the Chicago White Sox. I really wanted the whole team! Now, my hero was a star second baseman named Nellie Fox, who's in the Hall of Fame now. And wouldn't you know, I would get six or eight copies of other players, and I could never get a pack that had Nellie Fox in it. I had the entire White Sox team except for Nellie Fox.

Well, we got to this baseball card show. I looked around with my youngest son for a while. We even stopped at a table that had some Nellie Fox cards that were from my era. I turned my son loose for a little while to spend the money that he had carefully saved over all those months. And a few minutes later I felt a tug on my pant leg, and there was my oldest son, who was reaching up to me with something in his hand and tears in his eyes. He said, "Daddy, I know you always wanted Nellie Fox. I bought you some. I love you." I was overwhelmed! He had loved me enough to spend on me everything he had.

I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Spending It All On the One He Loves."

If there are three words that I had the power to tattoo on your soul for the rest of your life, it would be these words, God Loves You. I don't know what the word "love" has meant in your life. Maybe you've loved and lost. Maybe there's never been enough love.

Maybe love has meant disappointment and hurt, rejection or abandonment. Maybe for all the love you've had, it's still never filled that hole in your heart. Well, that's because there's a love so big that only God can give it...that can alone fill the hole in your heart.

Now, our word for today from the Word of God tells us how we know He loves us. Romans 8:32 says, "He that spared not His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how will He also with Him not freely give us all things?" Delivered up His Son for us! There was nothing more valuable God had than His Son. So how do you know how much He loves you? He spent the best He had. He spent His Son to get you back.

Why was that necessary? Well, because you and I have made the same choice about our life. We've decided we would run it instead of the God who gave us our life. He's a holy God. He governs the entire universe. We're rebels. We've set out to do it my way instead of God's way. We're fine if He runs the universe. We won't let Him run us.

The Bible says there's a death penalty for that; an eternal, awful, unthinkable death penalty for running our own lives, being spiritual hijackers. But instead of us paying that price, God gave His only Son. In the words of the Bible, "God loved the world so much" - you could put your name there - "God loved (yeah, you) so much that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him will not perish (not have that death penalty) but have eternal life."

Today God sent me with that message to wherever you are so you could for the first time in your life experience the love you were made for. You want that? You want to begin this love relationship with your Creator? Would you say, "Jesus, I believe when You died, you were dying for my sin. And when you walked out of that grave under your own power, it meant you could walk into my life today. I'm yours from today on."

This would be a good time for you to check out our website, because what you're going to find there is the information that will help you be sure you have begun life's greatest love relationship. The website's ANewStory.com.

Nobody loves you like God does. No one was willing to pay the price for you that God paid.

Job 21, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals

Max Lucado Daily:A Dad’s Commitment

When I was seven years old, I’d had enough of my father’s rules and decided I could make it on my own. With my clothes in a paper bag, I stormed out the back gate. I didn’t go far. I got to the end of the alley and remembered I was hungry. I remember rather sheepishly taking my seat at the supper table across from the very father I had, only moments before, disowned.

Did Dad know? I suspect he did. Fathers usually do. Was I still his son? Apparently so. No one was sitting in my place at the table. Suppose you’d asked, “Mr. Lucado, your son says he has no need of a father. Do you still consider him your son?” I don’t have to guess at his answer.  He called himself my father even when I didn’t call myself his son. His commitment to me was greater than my commitment to him!  Does that sound familiar?

From Dad Time

Job 21

Job’s Response
Why Do the Wicked Have It So Good?

Job replied:

“Now listen to me carefully, please listen,
    at least do me the favor of listening.
Put up with me while I have my say—
    then you can mock me later to your heart’s content.

4-16 “It’s not you I’m complaining to—it’s God.
    Is it any wonder I’m getting fed up with his silence?
Take a good look at me. Aren’t you appalled by what’s happened?
    No! Don’t say anything. I can do without your comments.
When I look back, I go into shock,
    my body is racked with spasms.
Why do the wicked have it so good,
    live to a ripe old age and get rich?
They get to see their children succeed,
    get to watch and enjoy their grandchildren.
Their homes are peaceful and free from fear;
    they never experience God’s disciplining rod.
Their bulls breed with great vigor
    and their cows calve without fail.
They send their children out to play
    and watch them frolic like spring lambs.
They make music with fiddles and flutes,
    have good times singing and dancing.
They have a long life on easy street,
    and die painlessly in their sleep.
They say to God, ‘Get lost!
    We’ve no interest in you or your ways.
Why should we have dealings with God Almighty?
    What’s there in it for us?’
But they’re wrong, dead wrong—they’re not gods.
    It’s beyond me how they can carry on like this!

17-21 “Still, how often does it happen that the wicked fail,
    or disaster strikes,
    or they get their just deserts?
How often are they blown away by bad luck?
    Not very often.
You might say, ‘God is saving up the punishment for their children.’
    I say, ‘Give it to them right now so they’ll know what they’ve done!’
They deserve to experience the effects of their evil,
    feel the full force of God’s wrath firsthand.
What do they care what happens to their families
    after they’re safely tucked away in the grave?

Fancy Funerals with All the Trimmings
22-26 “But who are we to tell God how to run his affairs?
    He’s dealing with matters that are way over our heads.
Some people die in the prime of life,
    with everything going for them—
    fat and sassy.
Others die bitter and bereft,
    never getting a taste of happiness.
They’re laid out side by side in the cemetery,
    where the worms can’t tell one from the other.

27-33 “I’m not deceived. I know what you’re up to,
    the plans you’re cooking up to bring me down.
Naively you claim that the castles of tyrants fall to pieces,
    that the achievements of the wicked collapse.
Have you ever asked world travelers how they see it?
    Have you not listened to their stories
Of evil men and women who got off scot-free,
    who never had to pay for their wickedness?
Did anyone ever confront them with their crimes?
    Did they ever have to face the music?
Not likely—they’re given fancy funerals
    with all the trimmings,
Gently lowered into expensive graves,
    with everyone telling lies about how wonderful they were.

34 “So how do you expect me to get any comfort from your nonsense?
    Your so-called comfort is a tissue of lies.”

Our Daily Bread reading and devotion    
Sunday, June 20, 2021
Read: Luke 5:12–16

Jesus Heals a Man With Leprosy
12 While Jesus was in one of the towns, a man came along who was covered with leprosy.[a] When he saw Jesus, he fell with his face to the ground and begged him, “Lord, if you are willing, you can make me clean.”

13 Jesus reached out his hand and touched the man. “I am willing,” he said. “Be clean!” And immediately the leprosy left him.

14 Then Jesus ordered him, “Don’t tell anyone, but go, show yourself to the priest and offer the sacrifices that Moses commanded for your cleansing, as a testimony to them.”

15 Yet the news about him spread all the more, so that crowds of people came to hear him and to be healed of their sicknesses. 16 But Jesus often withdrew to lonely places and prayed.

Footnotes
Luke 5:12 The Greek word traditionally translated leprosy was used for various diseases affecting the skin.

INSIGHT
Due to His popularity, Jesus intentionally withdrew to “lonely places” to pray (Luke 5:16). This may be why He didn’t want the man healed of leprosy to tell anyone (v. 14). However, “the news about him spread all the more, so that crowds of people came” (v. 15).

In the book of Luke we clearly see that Jesus’ time spent with His Father was a priority. He consistently went away to pray before major events such as when He chose the twelve apostles (6:12–16), before predicting His death (9:18), during the transfiguration when Moses and Elijah appeared to discuss Jesus’ departure (vv. 28–31), before His teaching on prayer (11:1), before His arrest (22:41), while being crucified (23:34), and just before He died (v. 46).

By John Blase
Spending Time with God

Jesus often withdrew to lonely places and prayed. Luke 5:16

A River Runs Through It is Norman Maclean’s masterful story of two boys growing up in western Montana with their father, a Presbyterian minister. On Sunday mornings, Norman and his brother, Paul, went to church where they heard their father preach. Once Sunday evening rolled around, there was another service and their father would preach again. But between those two services, they were free to walk the hills and streams with him “while he unwound between services.” It was an intentional withdrawing on their father’s part to “restore his soul and be filled again to overflowing for the evening sermon.”

Throughout the Gospels, Jesus is seen teaching multitudes on hillsides and cities, and healing the sick and diseased who were brought to Him. All this interaction was in line with the Son of Man’s mission “to seek and to save the lost” (Luke 19:10). But it’s also noted that He “often withdrew to lonely places” (5:16). His time there was spent communing with the Father, being renewed and restored to step back once more into His mission.

In our faithful efforts to serve, it’s good for us to remember that Jesus often withdrew. If this practice was important for Jesus, how much more so for us? May we regularly spend time with our Father, who can fill us again to overflowing.


What comes to mind when you think of a “lonely” place? When and where can you withdraw to simply spend time with the Father?


Thank You for the reminder, Father, of my need for time spent with You. I need Your grace and strength to renew my often-weary soul.

 

To learn more about spending time with God in prayer, visit ChristianUniversity.org/SF120.

My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Sunday, June 20, 2021

Have You Come to “When” Yet?

The Lord restored Job’s losses when he prayed for his friends. —Job 42:10

A pitiful, sickly, and self-centered kind of prayer and a determined effort and selfish desire to be right with God are never found in the New Testament. The fact that I am trying to be right with God is actually a sign that I am rebelling against the atonement by the Cross of Christ. I pray, “Lord, I will purify my heart if You will answer my prayer— I will walk rightly before You if You will help me.” But I cannot make myself right with God; I cannot make my life perfect. I can only be right with God if I accept the atonement of the Lord Jesus Christ as an absolute gift. Am I humble enough to accept it? I have to surrender all my rights and demands, and cease from every self-effort. I must leave myself completely alone in His hands, and then I can begin to pour my life out in the priestly work of intercession. There is a great deal of prayer that comes from actual disbelief in the atonement. Jesus is not just beginning to save us— He has already saved us completely. It is an accomplished fact, and it is an insult to Him for us to ask Him to do what He has already done.

If you are not now receiving the “hundredfold” which Jesus promised (see Matthew 19:29), and not getting insight into God’s Word, then start praying for your friends— enter into the ministry of the inner life. “The Lord restored Job’s losses when he prayed for his friends.” As a saved soul, the real business of your life is intercessory prayer. Whatever circumstances God may place you in, always pray immediately that His atonement may be recognized and as fully understood in the lives of others as it has been in yours. Pray for your friends now, and pray for those with whom you come in contact now.


WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS

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

Bible in a Year: Esther 1-2; Acts 5:1-21

Job 20, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals

Max Lucado Daily: My Father's Forgiveness

My father's salary wasn't abundant, so you can imagine my surprise when he put a credit card in my hand the day I left for college. His only instructions were, "Be careful how you use it." On an impulse one Friday, I skipped class to visit a girl on another campus. Because I left in a hurry, I forgot to take any money. Everything went fine until I rear-ended a car on the return trip.
My father took my collect call and heard my tale. My story wasn't much to boast about. I'd made a trip without his knowledge, without any money, and wrecked his car. "Well," he said after a long pause, "That's why I gave you the card. I hope you learned a lesson." I certainly did. I learned my father's forgiveness predated my mistake. He'd provided for my blunder before I blundered. Need I tell you God has done the same?
From Dad Time

Job 20

Zophar Attacks Job—The Second Round
Savoring Evil as a Delicacy

Zophar from Naamath again took his turn:

“I can’t believe what I’m hearing!
    You’ve put my teeth on edge, my stomach in a knot.
How dare you insult my intelligence like this!
    Well, here’s a piece of my mind!

4-11 “Don’t you even know the basics,
    how things have been since the earliest days,
    when Adam and Eve were first placed on earth?
The good times of the wicked are short-lived;
    godless joy is only momentary.
The evil might become world famous,
    strutting at the head of the celebrity parade,
But still end up in a pile of dung.
    Acquaintances look at them with disgust and say, ‘What’s that?’
They fly off like a dream that can’t be remembered,
    like a shadowy illusion that vanishes in the light.
Though once notorious public figures, now they’re nobodies,
    unnoticed, whether they come or go.
Their children will go begging on skid row,
    and they’ll have to give back their ill-gotten gain.
Right in the prime of life,
    and youthful and vigorous, they’ll die.

12-19 “They savor evil as a delicacy,
    roll it around on their tongues,
Prolong the flavor, a dalliance in decadence—
    real gourmets of evil!
But then they get stomach cramps,
    a bad case of food poisoning.
They gag on all that rich food;
    God makes them vomit it up.
They gorge on evil, make a diet of that poison—
    a deadly diet—and it kills them.
No quiet picnics for them beside gentle streams
    with fresh-baked bread and cheese, and tall, cool drinks.
They spit out their food half-chewed,
    unable to relax and enjoy anything they’ve worked for.
And why? Because they exploited the poor,
    took what never belonged to them.

20-29 “Such God-denying people are never content with what they have or who they are;
    their greed drives them relentlessly.
They plunder everything
    but they can’t hold on to any of it.
Just when they think they have it all, disaster strikes;
    they’re served up a plate full of misery.
When they’ve filled their bellies with that,
    God gives them a taste of his anger,
    and they get to chew on that for a while.
As they run for their lives from one disaster,
    they run smack into another.
They’re knocked around from pillar to post,
    beaten to within an inch of their lives.
They’re trapped in a house of horrors,
    and see their loot disappear down a black hole.
Their lives are a total loss—
    not a penny to their name, not so much as a bean.
God will strip them of their sin-soaked clothes
    and hang their dirty laundry out for all to see.
Life is a complete wipeout for them,
    nothing surviving God’s wrath.
There! That’s God’s blueprint for the wicked—
    what they have to look forward to.”

Our Daily Bread reading and devotion    
Saturday, June 19, 2021
Read: Job 40:15–24

“Look at Behemoth,
    which I made along with you
    and which feeds on grass like an ox.
16 What strength it has in its loins,
    what power in the muscles of its belly!
17 Its tail sways like a cedar;
    the sinews of its thighs are close-knit.
18 Its bones are tubes of bronze,
    its limbs like rods of iron.
19 It ranks first among the works of God,
    yet its Maker can approach it with his sword.
20 The hills bring it their produce,
    and all the wild animals play nearby.
21 Under the lotus plants it lies,
    hidden among the reeds in the marsh.
22 The lotuses conceal it in their shadow;
    the poplars by the stream surround it.
23 A raging river does not alarm it;
    it is secure, though the Jordan should surge against its mouth.
24 Can anyone capture it by the eyes,
    or trap it and pierce its nose?

INSIGHT
In the midst of his pain (Job 1–3), Job seeks to understand why he has to suffer so much. Instead of explaining why He allowed evil to exist or human beings to suffer (chs. 4–37), God confronted and confounded Job and asked him if he knew how the world and its creatures were created, controlled, and cared for. Job 38–42 is not an explanation of why man has to suffer, but a revelation of who God is! God reveals Himself as Creator (ch. 38), Sustainer (ch. 39), and Controller of all creation (chs. 40–42). Job didn’t need to fully understand God’s ways, for no one can (Isaiah 55:8–9). He only needed to humble himself (Job 42:1–5), trust God fully, and fear and revere Him (37:23–24).

By Jennifer Benson Schuldt
Bigger than Our Problems

Look at Behemoth, which I made along with you. Job 40:15

What do you imagine dinosaurs looked like when they were alive? Big teeth? Scaly skin? Long tails? Artist Karen Carr recreates these extinct creatures in large murals. One of her panoramas is over twenty feet tall and sixty feet long. Because of its size, it required a crew of experts to install it in sections where it resides in the Sam Noble Oklahoma Museum of Natural History.

It would be hard to stand in front of this mural without feeling dwarfed by the dinosaurs. I get a similar sensation when I read God’s description of the powerful animal called “Behemoth” (Job 40:15). This big guy munched grass like an ox and had a tail the size of a tree trunk. His bones were like iron pipes. He lumbered through the hills grazing, stopping occasionally to relax at the local swamp. When floodwaters surged, Behemoth never raised an eyebrow.

No one could tame this incredible creature—except its Maker (v. 19). God reminded Job of this truth during a time when Job’s problems had cast ominous shadows over his life. Grief, bewilderment, and frustration filled his field of vision until he began to question God. But God’s response helped Job see the real size of things. God was bigger than all his issues and powerful enough to handle problems that Job couldn’t resolve on his own. In the end, Job conceded, “I know that you can do all things” (42:2).

Which is bigger, your worst problem or the God who made everything? How does your view of God affect the way in which you handle problems?

Dear God, I believe You can help me with the things I’m facing today. Help me to be open to Your power and goodness when I feel overwhelmed by trouble.

My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Saturday, June 19, 2021
The Service of Passionate Devotion

…do you love Me?…Tend My sheep. —John 21:16

Jesus did not say to make converts to your way of thinking, but He said to look after His sheep, to see that they get nourished in the knowledge of Him. We consider what we do in the way of Christian work as service, yet Jesus Christ calls service to be what we are to Him, not what we do for Him. Discipleship is based solely on devotion to Jesus Christ, not on following after a particular belief or doctrine. “If anyone comes to Me and does not hate…, he cannot be My disciple” (Luke 14:26). In this verse, there is no argument and no pressure from Jesus to follow Him; He is simply saying, in effect, “If you want to be My disciple, you must be devoted solely to Me.” A person touched by the Spirit of God suddenly says, “Now I see who Jesus is!”— that is the source of devotion.

Today we have substituted doctrinal belief for personal belief, and that is why so many people are devoted to causes and so few are devoted to Jesus Christ. People do not really want to be devoted to Jesus, but only to the cause He started. Jesus Christ is deeply offensive to the educated minds of today, to those who only want Him to be their Friend, and who are unwilling to accept Him in any other way. Our Lord’s primary obedience was to the will of His Father, not to the needs of people— the saving of people was the natural outcome of His obedience to the Father. If I am devoted solely to the cause of humanity, I will soon be exhausted and come to the point where my love will waver and stumble. But if I love Jesus Christ personally and passionately, I can serve humanity, even though people may treat me like a “doormat.” The secret of a disciple’s life is devotion to Jesus Christ, and the characteristic of that life is its seeming insignificance and its meekness. Yet it is like a grain of wheat that “falls into the ground and dies”— it will spring up and change the entire landscape (John 12:24).
 

WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS

If a man cannot prove his religion in the valley, it is not worth anything.  Shade of His Hand, 1200 L

Bible in a Year: Nehemiah 12-13; Acts 4:23-37