Psalm 51, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals

 
Max Lucado Daily: By Grace Through Faith
The supreme force in salvation is God's grace. Not our works. Not our talents. Not our feelings. Not our strength. Faith is not born at the negotiating table where we barter our gifts in exchange for God's goodness. Faith is not an award given to the most learned. It's not a prize given to the most disciplined.
Paul wrote in Ephesians 2:8-9, "For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God, not by works, so that no one can boast."
We, like Paul, are aware of two things. We are great sinners and we need a great Savior. Salvation is God's sudden, calming presence during the stormy seas of our lives. Death is disarmed. Failures are forgiven. Life has real purpose. And God is not only within sight-He is within reach!
From In the Eye of the Storm

Psalm 51
Generous in love—God, give grace!
    Huge in mercy—wipe out my bad record.
Scrub away my guilt,
    soak out my sins in your laundry.
I know how bad I’ve been;
    my sins are staring me down.
4-6 You’re the One I’ve violated, and you’ve seen
    it all, seen the full extent of my evil.
You have all the facts before you;
    whatever you decide about me is fair.
I’ve been out of step with you for a long time,
    in the wrong since before I was born.
What you’re after is truth from the inside out.
    Enter me, then; conceive a new, true life.
7-15 Soak me in your laundry and I’ll come out clean,
    scrub me and I’ll have a snow-white life.
Tune me in to foot-tapping songs,
    set these once-broken bones to dancing.
Don’t look too close for blemishes,
    give me a clean bill of health.
God, make a fresh start in me,
    shape a Genesis week from the chaos of my life.
Don’t throw me out with the trash,
    or fail to breathe holiness in me.
Bring me back from gray exile,
    put a fresh wind in my sails!
Give me a job teaching rebels your ways
    so the lost can find their way home.
Commute my death sentence, God, my salvation God,
    and I’ll sing anthems to your life-giving ways.
Unbutton my lips, dear God;
    I’ll let loose with your praise.
16-17 Going through the motions doesn’t please you,
    a flawless performance is nothing to you.
I learned God-worship
    when my pride was shattered.
Heart-shattered lives ready for love
    don’t for a moment escape God’s notice.
18-19 Make Zion the place you delight in,
    repair Jerusalem’s broken-down walls.
Then you’ll get real worship from us,
    acts of worship small and large,
Including all the bulls
    they can heave onto your altar!

Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Sunday, August 21, 2022
Today's Scripture
Matthew 7:24–27
 “These words I speak to you are not incidental additions to your life, homeowner improvements to your standard of living. They are foundational words, words to build a life on. If you work these words into your life, you are like a smart carpenter who built his house on solid rock. Rain poured down, the river flooded, a tornado hit—but nothing moved that house. It was fixed to the rock.
26–27  “But if you just use my words in Bible studies and don’t work them into your life, you are like a stupid carpenter who built his house on the sandy beach. When a storm rolled in and the waves came up, it collapsed like a house of cards.”
Insight
Though the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5–7) is often considered the starting point of Jesus’ public ministry, it actually began in Matthew 4, where He began preaching the kingdom (v. 17), gathering disciples (vv. 18–22), and performing miracles (vv. 23–25). When Matthew 5:1 says that Jesus was followed by crowds, those crowds were the result of the work He’d started in Matthew 4. The Sermon on the Mount launches the basic structure around which Matthew will tell the story of Jesus. It’s the first of five major addresses Matthew records and which form the backbone of his gospel. Some scholars speculate that Matthew presented his gospel based on five messages because his primary audience was Jewish, and they already revered the five books of Moses and the book of Psalms, which is divided into five books. As such, they were accustomed to dealing with content in groups of five.
By: Bill Crowder
Two Houses
Everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock.

Matthew 7:24
To test the stability of two houses, engineers simulated a Category 3 hurricane by using powerful fans that produced wind gusts of one hundred miles per hour for ten minutes. The first house was built according to a non-hurricane building code, and the other was put together with a reinforced roof and floors. The first house shook and eventually collapsed, but the second house survived with only a few cosmetic damages. One of the engineers summarized the study by asking, "Which house would you rather be living in?"
Concluding His teaching on values of kingdom living, Jesus said, “Everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock” (Matthew 7:24). The fierce winds blew, but the house survived. In contrast, the person who hears and yet doesn’t obey, “is like a foolish man who built his house on sand” (v. 26). The fierce winds blew, and the house collapsed under the intensity of the storm. Jesus presented His audience with two options: build your lives on the solid foundation of obedience to Him or on the unstable sand of your own ways.
We too have to make a choice. Will we build our lives on Jesus and obedience to His words or disobedience to His instruction? By the Holy Spirit’s help, we can choose to build our lives on Christ.

Reflect & Pray
How have you experienced what it means to have Jesus as the foundation of your life? In what areas is He inviting you into greater obedience?
Jesus, help me to abide in You so that when the storms rise and the winds blow, I'll remain true to You—established forever by Your grace.

My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Sunday, August 21, 2022
The Ministry of the Unnoticed
Blessed are the poor in spirit… —Matthew 5:3
The New Testament notices things that do not seem worthy of notice by our standards. “Blessed are the poor in spirit….” This literally means, “Blessed are the paupers.” Paupers are remarkably commonplace! The preaching of today tends to point out a person’s strength of will or the beauty of his character— things that are easily noticed. The statement we so often hear, “Make a decision for Jesus Christ,” places the emphasis on something our Lord never trusted. He never asks us to decide for Him, but to yield to Him— something very different. At the foundation of Jesus Christ’s kingdom is the genuine loveliness of those who are commonplace. I am truly blessed in my poverty. If I have no strength of will and a nature without worth or excellence, then Jesus says to me, “Blessed are you, because it is through your poverty that you can enter My kingdom.” I cannot enter His kingdom by virtue of my goodness— I can only enter it as an absolute pauper.
The true character of the loveliness that speaks for God is always unnoticed by the one possessing that quality. Conscious influence is prideful and unchristian. If I wonder if I am being of any use to God, I instantly lose the beauty and the freshness of the touch of the Lord. “He who believes in Me…out of his heart will flow rivers of living water” (John 7:38). And if I examine the outflow, I lose the touch of the Lord.
Who are the people who have influenced us most? Certainly not the ones who thought they did, but those who did not have even the slightest idea that they were influencing us. In the Christian life, godly influence is never conscious of itself. If we are conscious of our influence, it ceases to have the genuine loveliness which is characteristic of the touch of Jesus. We always know when Jesus is at work because He produces in the commonplace something that is inspiring.
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
Am I becoming more and more in love with God as a holy God, or with the conception of an amiable Being who says, “Oh well, sin doesn’t matter much”?  Disciples Indeed, 389 L
Bible in a Year: Psalms 107-109; 1 Corinthians 4

Psalm 32, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals

Max Lucado Daily: One Option: God
When you recognize God as Creator, you will admire Him. When you recognize His wisdom, you will learn from Him. When you discover His strength, you will rely on Him. But only when He saves you will you worship Him.
It's a "before and after" scenario. Before your rescue, He was high on your priority list, but He shared the spot with others. Then came the storm, the rage, the fight. Despair fell like a fog. Could you turn to your career for help? Only if you want to hide from the storm, not escape it. Lean on your status for strength? A storm isn't impressed with your title. Suddenly you're left with one option-God. And when you ask, genuinely ask, He will come. And from that moment on, He is not just a deity to admire, or a master to obey. He is the Savior.  The Savior to be worshiped!
From In the Eye of the Storm

Psalm 32
Count yourself lucky, how happy you must be—
    you get a fresh start,
    your slate’s wiped clean.
2 Count yourself lucky—
    God holds nothing against you
    and you’re holding nothing back from him.
3 When I kept it all inside,
    my bones turned to powder,
    my words became daylong groans.
4 The pressure never let up;
    all the juices of my life dried up.
5 Then I let it all out;
    I said, “I’ll come clean about my failures to God.”
Suddenly the pressure was gone—
    my guilt dissolved,
    my sin disappeared.
6 These things add up. Every one of us needs to pray;
    when all hell breaks loose and the dam bursts
    we’ll be on high ground, untouched.
7 God’s my island hideaway,
    keeps danger far from the shore,
    throws garlands of hosannas around my neck.
8 Let me give you some good advice;
    I’m looking you in the eye
    and giving it to you straight:
9 “Don’t be ornery like a horse or mule
    that needs bit and bridle
    to stay on track.”
10 God-defiers are always in trouble;
    God-affirmers find themselves loved
    every time they turn around.
11 Celebrate God.
    Sing together—everyone!
    All you honest hearts, raise the roof!

Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Saturday, August 20, 2022
Today's Scripture
Philippians 3:10–21
  I gave up all that inferior stuff so I could know Christ personally, experience his resurrection power, be a partner in his suffering, and go all the way with him to death itself. If there was any way to get in on the resurrection from the dead, I wanted to do it.
Focused on the Goal
12–14  I’m not saying that I have this all together, that I have it made. But I am well on my way, reaching out for Christ, who has so wondrously reached out for me. Friends, don’t get me wrong: By no means do I count myself an expert in all of this, but I’ve got my eye on the goal, where God is beckoning us onward—to Jesus. I’m off and running, and I’m not turning back.
15–16  So let’s keep focused on that goal, those of us who want everything God has for us. If any of you have something else in mind, something less than total commitment, God will clear your blurred vision—you’ll see it yet! Now that we’re on the right track, let’s stay on it.
17–19  Stick with me, friends. Keep track of those you see running this same course, headed for this same goal. There are many out there taking other paths, choosing other goals, and trying to get you to go along with them. I’ve warned you of them many times; sadly, I’m having to do it again. All they want is easy street. They hate Christ’s Cross. But easy street is a dead-end street. Those who live there make their bellies their gods; belches are their praise; all they can think of is their appetites.
20–21  But there’s far more to life for us. We’re citizens of high heaven! We’re waiting the arrival of the Savior, the Master, Jesus Christ, who will transform our earthy bodies into glorious bodies like his own. He’ll make us beautiful and whole with the same powerful skill by which he is putting everything as it should be, under and around him.
Insight
When Paul received the Macedonian vision (Acts 16:6–10), he and his colleagues found passage from Asia Minor (modern-day Turkey) and traveled to Philippi. There, they searched out a prayer meeting where they shared the message of the love of Christ, resulting in the first converts in Europe. Later, however, Paul and Silas were arrested and beaten severely. This suffering led to the conversion of the jailer and his family—further strengthening the fledgling assembly of believers. The commitment to go and reach out and the determination not to be deterred by suffering were key elements to the Philippian church’s birth.
By: Bill Crowder
Radiant Drifters
Let us live up to what we have already attained.

Philippians 3:16
Under the night sky in the spring of 2020, surfers rode bioluminescent waves along the coast of San Diego. These lightshows were caused by microscopic organisms called phytoplankton, a name derived from a Greek word meaning “wanderer” or “drifter.” During the day, the living organisms create red tides and capture sunlight that converts into chemical energy. When disturbed in the darkness, they produce an electric blue light.
Believers in Jesus are citizens of heaven who, much like the red-tide algae, live like wanderers or drifters on earth. When difficult circumstances disturb our well-laid plans, the Holy Spirit empowers us to respond like Jesus—the Light of the World—so we can reflect His radiant character in the darkness. According to Paul the apostle, nothing is more valuable than our intimacy with Christ and the righteousness that comes through our faith in Him (Philippians 3:8–9). His life proved that knowing Jesus and the power of His resurrection changes us, impacting the way we live and the way we respond when trials disrupt our lives (vv. 10–16).
When we spend time with God’s Son daily, the Holy Spirit equips us with the truth we need—enabling us to face every challenge on this earth in ways that reflect Christ’s character (vv. 17–21). We can be beacons of God’s love and hope, cutting through the darkness until the day He calls us home or comes again.
By:  Xochitl Dixon
Reflect & Pray
How has your perspective on life’s challenges changed as you’ve considered what Christ has done for you? What can you do to become radiant with the character of Christ?
Merciful Jesus, when difficult circumstances come, please shine through me and help me point others to You.

My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Saturday, August 20, 2022
Christ-Awareness
…and I will give you rest. —Matthew 11:28
Whenever anything begins to disintegrate your life with Jesus Christ, turn to Him at once, asking Him to re-establish your rest. Never allow anything to remain in your life that is causing the unrest. Think of every detail of your life that is causing the disintegration as something to fight against, not as something you should allow to remain. Ask the Lord to put awareness of Himself in you, and your self-awareness will disappear. Then He will be your all in all. Beware of allowing your self-awareness to continue, because slowly but surely it will awaken self-pity, and self-pity is satanic. Don’t allow yourself to say, “Well, they have just misunderstood me, and this is something over which they should be apologizing to me; I’m sure I must have this cleared up with them already.” Learn to leave others alone regarding this. Simply ask the Lord to give you Christ-awareness, and He will steady you until your completeness in Him is absolute.
A complete life is the life of a child. When I am fully conscious of my awareness of Christ, there is something wrong. It is the sick person who really knows what health is. A child of God is not aware of the will of God because he is the will of God. When we have deviated even slightly from the will of God, we begin to ask, “Lord, what is your will?” A child of God never prays to be made aware of the fact that God answers prayer, because he is so restfully certain that God always answers prayer.
If we try to overcome our self-awareness through any of our own commonsense methods, we will only serve to strengthen our self-awareness tremendously. Jesus says, “Come to Me…and I will give you rest,” that is, Christ-awareness will take the place of self-awareness. Wherever Jesus comes He establishes rest— the rest of the completion of activity in our lives that is never aware of itself.
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
The great thing about faith in God is that it keeps a man undisturbed in the midst of disturbance. Notes on Isaiah, 1376 R
Bible in a Year: Psalms 105-106; 1 Corinthians 3

John 3:1-15, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals

Max Lucado Daily: YOUR INHERITANCE IS PROMISED - August 19, 2022
One of the most famous stories in the Bible has to do with inheritance. The Hebrews had just been delivered from Egyptian captivity. God led them and Moses to the edge of the promised land and made this offer. “Send some men to explore the land of Canaan, which I am giving to the Israelites. From each ancestral tribe send one of its leaders” (Numbers 13:1-2).
God didn’t tell the Israelites to conquer, invade, or secure the land. No, he told them he was giving it to them. And their choice was clear: promises or circumstances? The circumstances said, “No way. Stay out. There are giants in the land!” But God’s promise said, “The land is yours. The victory is yours. Take it!”
Circumstances say, cower to your fears. Your inheritance says otherwise: you are a child of the King. And because God’s promises are unbreakable our hope is unshakable!

John 3:1-15
Born from Above
There was a man of the Pharisee sect, Nicodemus, a prominent leader among the Jews. Late one night he visited Jesus and said, “Rabbi, we all know you’re a teacher straight from God. No one could do all the God-pointing, God-revealing acts you do if God weren’t in on it.”
3 Jesus said, “You’re absolutely right. Take it from me: Unless a person is born from above, it’s not possible to see what I’m pointing to—to God’s kingdom.”
4 “How can anyone,” said Nicodemus, “be born who has already been born and grown up? You can’t re-enter your mother’s womb and be born again. What are you saying with this ‘born-from-above’ talk?”
5-6 Jesus said, “You’re not listening. Let me say it again. Unless a person submits to this original creation—the ‘wind-hovering-over-the-water’ creation, the invisible moving the visible, a baptism into a new life—it’s not possible to enter God’s kingdom. When you look at a baby, it’s just that: a body you can look at and touch. But the person who takes shape within is formed by something you can’t see and touch—the Spirit—and becomes a living spirit.
7-8 “So don’t be so surprised when I tell you that you have to be ‘born from above’—out of this world, so to speak. You know well enough how the wind blows this way and that. You hear it rustling through the trees, but you have no idea where it comes from or where it’s headed next. That’s the way it is with everyone ‘born from above’ by the wind of God, the Spirit of God.”
9 Nicodemus asked, “What do you mean by this? How does this happen?”
10-12 Jesus said, “You’re a respected teacher of Israel and you don’t know these basics? Listen carefully. I’m speaking sober truth to you. I speak only of what I know by experience; I give witness only to what I have seen with my own eyes. There is nothing secondhand here, no hearsay. Yet instead of facing the evidence and accepting it, you procrastinate with questions. If I tell you things that are plain as the hand before your face and you don’t believe me, what use is there in telling you of things you can’t see, the things of God?
13-15 “No one has ever gone up into the presence of God except the One who came down from that Presence, the Son of Man. In the same way that Moses lifted the serpent in the desert so people could have something to see and then believe, it is necessary for the Son of Man to be lifted up—and everyone who looks up to him, trusting and expectant, will gain a real life, eternal life.

Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Friday, August 19, 2022

Today's Scripture
Jeremiah 1:14–19
Then God told me, “Disaster will pour out of the north
on everyone living in this land.
Watch for this: I’m calling all the kings out of the north.”
God’s Decree.
15–16  “They’ll come and set up headquarters
facing Jerusalem’s gates,
Facing all the city walls,
facing all the villages of Judah.
I’ll pronounce my judgment on the people of Judah
for walking out on me—what a terrible thing to do!—
And courting other gods with their offerings,
worshiping as gods sticks they’d carved, stones they’d painted.
17  “But you—up on your feet and get dressed for work!
Stand up and say your piece. Say exactly what I tell you to say.
Don’t pull your punches
or I’ll pull you out of the lineup.
18–19  “Stand at attention while I prepare you for your work.
I’m making you as impregnable as a castle,
Immovable as a steel post,
solid as a concrete block wall.
You’re a one-man defense system
against this culture,
Against Judah’s kings and princes,
against the priests and local leaders.
They’ll fight you, but they won’t
even scratch you.
I’ll back you up every inch of the way.”
God’s Decree.
Insight
The words terrified/terrify in Jeremiah 1:17 translate the Hebrew word hatat, meaning to be shattered, dismayed, broken, abolished, afraid, discouraged, terrified. The word is used in contexts where God’s people are encouraged to take a stand in the face of odds (see 1 Chronicles 22:13; 2 Chronicles 20:15, 17; Ezekiel 3:9). It’s often preceded by the word not and the exhortation to “not fear” as in Joshua 1:9, where the Hebrew word is translated “discouraged”: “Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go.” In the Gospels, Jesus’ words to His disciples echo what we hear in the Old Testament: “Do not worry about how you will defend yourselves or what you will say, for the Holy Spirit will teach you at that time what you should say” (Luke 12:11–12).
By: Arthur Jackson
As Strong as Iron
Today I have made you a fortified city, an iron pillar and a bronze wall.

Jeremiah 1:18
Ironclad beetles are known for their tough exterior which protects them from predators. One special variety, however, has extraordinary strength under pressure. The insect’s hard, outer shell stretches, rather than cracks, where it joins together. Its flat back and low profile also help it to resist fractures. Scientific tests show that it can survive a compression force of nearly forty thousand times its body weight.
Just as God made this bug extra tough, He gave resilience to Jeremiah as well. The prophet would face intense pressure when he delivered unwelcome messages to Israel, so God promised to make him “an iron pillar and a bronze wall” (Jeremiah 1:18). The prophet wouldn’t be flattened, dismantled, or overwhelmed. His words would stand strong because of God’s presence and rescuing power.
Throughout his life, Jeremiah was falsely accused, arrested, tried, beaten, imprisoned, and tossed into a well—yet he survived. Jeremiah also persisted despite the weight of inner struggles. Doubt and grief plagued him. Constant rejection and the dread of a Babylonian invasion added to his mental stress.
God continually helped Jeremiah so that his spirit and testimony weren’t shattered. When we feel like giving up on the mission He’s given us, or backing away from living faith-filled lives, we can remember that Jeremiah’s God is our God. He can make us as strong as iron because His power is made perfect in our weakness (2 Corinthians 12:9).
By:  Jennifer Benson Schuldt
Reflect & Pray
Which circumstances are threatening to crush you? How do the examples of Bible characters inspire you to exhibit faith in God?
Dear God, please strengthen me to meet the challenges I face today.

My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Friday, August 19, 2022
Self-Awareness
Come to Me… —Matthew 11:28
God intends for us to live a well-rounded life in Christ Jesus, but there are times when that life is attacked from the outside. Then we tend to fall back into self-examination, a habit that we thought was gone. Self-awareness is the first thing that will upset the completeness of our life in God, and self-awareness continually produces a sense of struggling and turmoil in our lives. Self-awareness is not sin, and it can be produced by nervous emotions or by suddenly being dropped into a totally new set of circumstances. Yet it is never God’s will that we should be anything less than absolutely complete in Him. Anything that disturbs our rest in Him must be rectified at once, and it is not rectified by being ignored but only by coming to Jesus Christ. If we will come to Him, asking Him to produce Christ-awareness in us, He will always do it, until we fully learn to abide in Him.
Never allow anything that divides or destroys the oneness of your life with Christ to remain in your life without facing it. Beware of allowing the influence of your friends or your circumstances to divide your life. This only serves to sap your strength and slow your spiritual growth. Beware of anything that can split your oneness with Him, causing you to see yourself as separate from Him. Nothing is as important as staying right spiritually. And the only solution is a very simple one— “Come to Me….” The intellectual, moral, and spiritual depth of our reality as a person is tested and measured by these words. Yet in every detail of our lives where we are found not to be real, we would rather dispute the findings than come to Jesus.
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
We never enter into the Kingdom of God by having our head questions answered, but only by commitment.
The Highest Good—Thy Great Redemption
Bible in a Year: Psalms 103-104; 1 Corinthians 2
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft

Friday, August 19, 2022
WHEN NOTHING'S HAPPENING - #9290
I seem to vaguely remember this old nursery rhyme from when I was a kid. It went like this: "Mary, Mary, quite contrary, how does your garden grow?" If you asked our grandsons that question, they'd probably say, "Real slow!" Maybe that's why Mary was so contrary. There was a spring that the boys worked with their Dad to clear a little area in the yard where they could have a vegetable garden. And they were all excited about planting those seeds in the ground: tomato seeds, green beans, carrots, and lettuce. They went out the next day to look at what they had planted. Nothing. Then the next week, and the week after that. They watered the garden when it didn't rain. They pulled up weeds. For the longest time, they went out to that garden to see what was happening. Guess what was happening? Nothing...or so it looked. Had they tried to dig up the seeds to see if anything was happening, they would have ruined everything. But you know the story. It finally happened: The tomatoes and beans and carrots and lettuce. It just took a little while.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "When Nothing's Happening."
Something had been happening all along to those seeds. Right? Just because you can't see what God is doing doesn't mean He isn't doing anything! In fact, that may be something important for you to remember right now. You've been praying about that need, that situation, that person for a long time and it just looks like nothing's happening. Key words: looks like. When a seed's been planted, it looks like there's nothing going on for some time until that plant breaks through and ultimately produces some wonderful fruit. When a new life has begun in a woman's body, it doesn't look like anything's happened for quite a while. But every day, that life is growing where we cannot see it grow. Until it first reshapes that mother's body and ultimately appears as that precious little baby being born.
The problem is that when it looks like nothing's happening, we tend to say, "Well then, I've got to do something!" And most often, it's the wrong thing - take it from me - digging up the seed to see if it's growing. In 1 Samuel 13, beginning with verse 7, our word for today from the Word of God, we've got a sobering example of how much we have to lose when we can't wait for God to do it His way. Saul, who's Israel's first king, has been told by God's man Samuel, "Go down ahead of me to Gilgal. I will surely come down to you to sacrifice burnt offerings...but you must wait seven days until I come to you and tell you what you are to do."
With the Philistine forces massing against them, the Bible says, "Saul remained at Gilgal, and all the troops with him were quaking with fear. He waited seven days, the time set by Samuel, but Samuel did not come to Gilgal, and Saul's men began to scatter." Saul panicked, and he did what no king was allowed by God to do: he offered the burnt offering himself and he crossed a sacred line. And "just as he finished making the offering, Samuel arrived." And Samuel asks, "What have you done?" Saul answers by talking about what "I saw"... "I thought"... "I felt." Samuel says, "You acted foolishly. You have not kept the command the Lord your God gave you...now your kingdom will not endure."
Saul forfeits the major legacy of his life because of disobedience that disqualified him; a disobedience that came because he couldn't wait for God to do it His way. You and I are so prone to make that same mistake. Nothing seems to be happening, things are starting to fall apart, and it looks like we're at the point of no return. So we take matters into our own hands and, in so doing, we ruin what God was going to do.
God is so often the God of the eleventh hour. He waits until the moment when everyone will know it had to be Him. He waits so our faith can stretch farther than it's ever stretched before so He can do greater things for us than He's ever done before.
God's working in ways we can't see, so ultimately something beautiful will be born for all to see. So, as the Psalmist says: "Commit your way to the Lord; trust in Him and He will do this...be still before the Lord and wait patiently for Him" (Psalm 37:5, 7).

2 Samuel 12, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals

Max Lucado Daily: THE ADVENTUROUSLY EXPECTANT LIFE - August 18, 2022
As a child of God, “this resurrection life you received from God is not a timid, grave-tending life. It’s adventurously expectant, greeting God with a childlike, ‘What’s next, Papa?’ God’s Spirit touches our spirits and confirms who we really are. We know who he is, and we know who we are: Father and children. And we know we are going to get an unbelievable inheritance!” (Romans 8:15-17 MSG).
God says, “Hey, Lucado, you’re an heir to the joy of Christ. Why not ask Jesus to help you?” “And you, Mr. Without-a-Clue. Aren’t you an heir to God’s storehouse of wisdom?” “Mrs. Worrywart, why do you let  fears steal your sleep? Are you not a beneficiary of God’s trust fund?”
Approach God’s throne not as an interloper but as a child of the living and loving God. Because God’s promises are unbreakable, our hope is unshakable!

2 Samuel 12
 But God was not at all pleased with what David had done, and sent Nathan to David. Nathan said to him, “There were two men in the same city—one rich, the other poor. The rich man had huge flocks of sheep, herds of cattle. The poor man had nothing but one little female lamb, which he had bought and raised. It grew up with him and his children as a member of the family. It ate off his plate and drank from his cup and slept on his bed. It was like a daughter to him.
4 “One day a traveler dropped in on the rich man. He was too stingy to take an animal from his own herds or flocks to make a meal for his visitor, so he took the poor man’s lamb and prepared a meal to set before his guest.”
5-6 David exploded in anger. “As surely as God lives,” he said to Nathan, “the man who did this ought to be lynched! He must repay for the lamb four times over for his crime and his stinginess!”
7-12 “You’re the man!” said Nathan. “And here’s what God, the God of Israel, has to say to you: I made you king over Israel. I freed you from the fist of Saul. I gave you your master’s daughter and other wives to have and to hold. I gave you both Israel and Judah. And if that hadn’t been enough, I’d have gladly thrown in much more. So why have you treated the word of God with brazen contempt, doing this great evil? You murdered Uriah the Hittite, then took his wife as your wife. Worse, you killed him with an Ammonite sword! And now, because you treated God with such contempt and took Uriah the Hittite’s wife as your wife, killing and murder will continually plague your family. This is God speaking, remember! I’ll make trouble for you out of your own family. I’ll take your wives from right out in front of you. I’ll give them to some neighbor, and he’ll go to bed with them openly. You did your deed in secret; I’m doing mine with the whole country watching!”
13-14 Then David confessed to Nathan, “I’ve sinned against God.”
Nathan pronounced, “Yes, but that’s not the last word. God forgives your sin. You won’t die for it. But because of your blasphemous behavior, the son born to you will die.”
15-18 After Nathan went home, God afflicted the child that Uriah’s wife bore to David, and he came down sick. David prayed desperately to God for the little boy. He fasted, wouldn’t go out, and slept on the floor. The elders in his family came in and tried to get him off the floor, but he wouldn’t budge. Nor could they get him to eat anything. On the seventh day the child died. David’s servants were afraid to tell him. They said, “What do we do now? While the child was living he wouldn’t listen to a word we said. Now, with the child dead, if we speak to him there’s no telling what he’ll do.”
19 David noticed that the servants were whispering behind his back, and realized that the boy must have died.
He asked the servants, “Is the boy dead?”
“Yes,” they answered. “He’s dead.”
20 David got up from the floor, washed his face and combed his hair, put on a fresh change of clothes, then went into the sanctuary and worshiped. Then he came home and asked for something to eat. They set it before him and he ate.
21 His servants asked him, “What’s going on with you? While the child was alive you fasted and wept and stayed up all night. Now that he’s dead, you get up and eat.”
22-23 “While the child was alive,” he said, “I fasted and wept, thinking God might have mercy on me and the child would live. But now that he’s dead, why fast? Can I bring him back now? I can go to him, but he can’t come to me.”
24-25 David went and comforted his wife Bathsheba. And when he slept with her, they conceived a son. When he was born they named him Solomon. God had a special love for him and sent word by Nathan the prophet that God wanted him named Jedidiah (God’s Beloved).
* * *
26-30 Joab, at war in Rabbah against the Ammonites, captured the royal city. He sent messengers to David saying, “I’m fighting at Rabbah, and I’ve just captured the city’s water supply. Hurry and get the rest of the troops together and set up camp here at the city and complete the capture yourself. Otherwise, I’ll capture it and get all the credit instead of you.” So David marshaled all the troops, went to Rabbah, and fought and captured it. He took the crown from their king’s head—very heavy with gold, and with a precious stone in it. It ended up on David’s head. And they plundered the city, carrying off a great quantity of loot.
31 David emptied the city of its people and put them to slave labor using saws, picks, and axes, and making bricks. He did this to all the Ammonite cities. Then David and the whole army returned to Jerusalem.

Our Daily Bread reading and devotion

Thursday, August 18, 2022
Today's Scripture
Psalm 103:13–18
As parents feel for their children,
God feels for those who fear him.
He knows us inside and out,
keeps in mind that we’re made of mud.
Men and women don’t live very long;
like wildflowers they spring up and blossom,
But a storm snuffs them out just as quickly,
leaving nothing to show they were here.
God’s love, though, is ever and always,
eternally present to all who fear him,
Making everything right for them and their children
as they follow his Covenant ways
and remember to do whatever he said.
Insight
Psalm 103 begins and ends with a call to worship God—beginning with the individual worshiper (vv. 1–2), building up to all creation (vv. 20–22), and returning to the individual at the end of verse 22. In between, the psalm reflects on why it’s fitting for all creation to worship and lists the many ways God has revealed Himself to be a God of boundless goodness.
In many ways, this psalm (see vv. 8, 12, 18) is an extended reflection on the description of God given to Moses in Exodus 34:6–7: “the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness, maintaining love to thousands, and forgiving wickedness, rebellion and sin.” Psalm 103 reminds worshipers of God’s mercy (v. 8), reassuring them that His compassion, love, and faithfulness are greater than their weakness and sin (vv. 13–14). All are invited to experience the joy of worshiping Him.
By: Monica La Rose
A Compassionate Father
As a father has compassion on his children, so the Lord has compassion on those who fear him.

Psalm 103:13
After eight-year-old Gabriel underwent surgery to remove a tumor from his brain, it left a noticeable scar on the side of his head. When the boy said he felt like a monster, his dad, Josh, had an idea: demonstrate how much he loved his son by getting a tattoo on the side of his head with the same shape as Gabriel’s scar.
According to the psalmist, this is the kind of empathic and compassionate love God has for “his children” (Psalm 103:13). Using a metaphor drawn from human life, David illustrated God’s love. He said it’s as tender as a good father’s care for his children (v. 17). Just as a human father shows compassion to his children, so God, our heavenly Father, shows love and care toward those who fear Him. He’s a compassionate father, who empathizes with His people.
When we’re weak and feel like we’re unlovable because of the scars of life, may we receive, by faith, our heavenly Father’s love toward us. He demonstrated His compassion by sending His Son to lay “down his life for us” (1 John 3:16)—for our salvation. With this one act, not only can we experience God’s love for us, but we can look to the cross and see it. Aren’t you glad that we have a High Priest who can “empathize with our weaknesses” (Hebrews 4:15)? He has the scars to prove it.
By:  Marvin Williams
Reflect & Pray
How do you mind the gap between knowing God loves you and experiencing His love? How does it make you feel that Jesus, our High Priest, can empathize with every scar you have?
For further study, see Finding Peace by Forgiving Others…And Yourself
Heavenly Father, thank You for your compassionate love for me. May You use my scars for Your glory.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers

Thursday, August 18, 2022
Have You Ever Been Speechless with Sorrow?
When he heard this, he became very sorrowful, for he was very rich. —Luke 18:23
The rich young ruler went away from Jesus speechless with sorrow, having nothing to say in response to Jesus’ words. He had no doubt about what Jesus had said or what it meant, and it produced in him a sorrow with no words with which to respond. Have you ever been there? Has God’s Word ever come to you, pointing out an area of your life, requiring you to yield it to Him? Maybe He has pointed out certain personal qualities, desires, and interests, or possibly relationships of your heart and mind. If so, then you have often been speechless with sorrow. The Lord will not go after you, and He will not plead with you. But every time He meets you at the place where He has pointed, He will simply repeat His words, saying, “If you really mean what you say, these are the conditions.”
“Sell all that you have…” (Luke 18:22). In other words, rid yourself before God of everything that might be considered a possession until you are a mere conscious human being standing before Him, and then give God that. That is where the battle is truly fought— in the realm of your will before God. Are you more devoted to your idea of what Jesus wants than to Jesus Himself? If so, you are likely to hear one of His harsh and unyielding statements that will produce sorrow in you. What Jesus says is difficult— it is only easy when it is heard by those who have His nature in them. Beware of allowing anything to soften the hard words of Jesus Christ.
I can be so rich in my own poverty, or in the awareness of the fact that I am nobody, that I will never be a disciple of Jesus. Or I can be so rich in the awareness that I am somebody that I will never be a disciple. Am I willing to be destitute and poor even in my sense of awareness of my destitution and poverty? If not, that is why I become discouraged. Discouragement is disillusioned self-love, and self-love may be love for my devotion to Jesus— not love for Jesus Himself.
    
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
Jesus Christ is always unyielding to my claim to my right to myself. The one essential element in all our Lord’s teaching about discipleship is abandon, no calculation, no trace of self-interest.
Disciples Indeed
Bible in a Year: Psalms 100-102; 1 Corinthians 1

A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Thursday, August 18, 2022
Hollywood is kind of a world of illusions. If you don't know it already, well you learn it when you tour a major studio. I did that once and I got to see where movies and TV series were filmed. You find out, for example, that when you see a man speeding along in a car he might be sitting still on the set. They put in all the scenery that makes it look like he's moving, later.
I remember reading about Gary Cooper, who was a legendary movie star of another generation. And they had a great illusion for him in this western town. One of the buildings had a door that they actually "shrunk" for Gary Cooper, because Gary Cooper wasn't very tall. You're not supposed to have a short hero, right? And they wanted a tall leading man, so they made the door small so he would look tall. (I need these guys to help me out.)
It's a world of illusion. And it didn't stop with the western town. There was a street in WWII vintage European village, and there was old Chicago. And the buildings! Oh, impressive until you open a door and go inside. There's nothing there! Did you ever get that feeling about your life?
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Impressive on the Outside, Empty on the Inside."
Impressive exteriors! That's what 2 Timothy 3:5-7 talk about, and they happen to be our word for today from the Word of God. And Paul, in describing what people are going to be like near the end of human history, gives this description. He says they are "having a form of godliness" - okay, they look good on the outside - "but denying its power." Then in verse 7 he says, they're "always learning but never able to acknowledge the truth."
Now, notice here he describes people who have religion; they have a form of godliness. The problem is it's a set. They go to the right meetings, they say the right words, they give in the right offerings, they support the right causes. There's just no power behind it. Then he talks about people who have an education but no answers; they can't arrive at the truth.
In the book of Ecclesiastes, which is King Solomon's personal diary, he described the great set of his life. And he talked about all the monuments he had built, and the palace he had built, and the women he had loved, and the pleasures he had partaken in, and the musicians he brought in, and the wealth he had amassed. What a set! And then he describes what was going on inside over and over again in these three words, "chasing the wind."
I remember a time when I'd had like just one person after another tell they felt empty inside. A high school athlete at the top of his career with all the scholarships said, "Ron, why do I feel so empty?" A community leader, a leader in his church, looked at me and said, "Ron, why after all this religious effort do I feel so empty?" Maybe your life has a great set for people to see: success, a sense of humor, friends, religion, but you're aware that behind that set there's no power, there's no answers, there's no peace. After years of wearing the right masks and saying the right thing, well we find out there's nothing behind that set - nothing there. Why don't you deal with what's missing or actually who's missing?
Solomon said in the book of Ecclesiastes, "We have eternity in our hearts." What's missing is the person who made you. Colossians 1:16 sums up our life in six words. Speaking of Christ it says, "We were created by Him and for Him." Could it be that you are missing the relationship you were made for? Even religious people; you can have a religious set and maybe never have Christ.
This could be the day that you finally experience the reality, the ultimate reality of God not around you but God in you. Of the peace and the love and the forgiveness and the heaven that only Jesus can give you, because only He died to make it possible. And He walked out of His grave so He could walk into your life today. If you want to know how to begin that relationship? Go to our website at ANewStory.com.
If you're tired of just repainting the scenery of your life and making a more impressive exterior, why don't you open the door of that set and let Jesus Christ into the emptiness behind it. He can build a house there that you really live in.

2 Samuel 11, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals

Max Lucado Daily: CO-HEIRS WITH CHRIST - August 17, 2022
After spending the better part of an hour reciting the woes of my life to my wife, Denalyn interrupted me with a question. “Is God in this anywhere?” I hate it when she does that.
What had happened to me? I was focusing on my resources. I wasn’t consulting God. I had limited my world to my strength, my wisdom, my power. No wonder I was in a tailspin. For such moments God gives this promise: “We are heirs—heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ” (Romans 8:17).
The cronies of dismay, gloom, and rejection have no answer for the promise of inheritance. Tell them, “The gauge may be bouncing on empty, but I will not run out of fuel. I am a child of the living and loving God, and he will help me!” And because God’s promises are unbreakable our hope is unshakable.

2 Samuel 11
David’s Sin and Sorrow
When that time of year came around again, the anniversary of the Ammonite aggression, David dispatched Joab and his fighting men of Israel in full force to destroy the Ammonites for good. They laid siege to Rabbah, but David stayed in Jerusalem.
2-5 One late afternoon, David got up from taking his nap and was strolling on the roof of the palace. From his vantage point on the roof he saw a woman bathing. The woman was stunningly beautiful. David sent to ask about her, and was told, “Isn’t this Bathsheba, daughter of Eliam and wife of Uriah the Hittite?” David sent his agents to get her. After she arrived, he went to bed with her. (This occurred during the time of “purification” following her period.) Then she returned home. Before long she realized she was pregnant.
Later she sent word to David: “I’m pregnant.”
6 David then got in touch with Joab: “Send Uriah the Hittite to me.” Joab sent him.
7-8 When he arrived, David asked him for news from the front—how things were going with Joab and the troops and with the fighting. Then he said to Uriah, “Go home. Have a refreshing bath and a good night’s rest.”
8-9 After Uriah left the palace, an informant of the king was sent after him. But Uriah didn’t go home. He slept that night at the palace entrance, along with the king’s servants.
10 David was told that Uriah had not gone home. He asked Uriah, “Didn’t you just come off a hard trip? So why didn’t you go home?”
11 Uriah replied to David, “The Chest is out there with the fighting men of Israel and Judah—in tents. My master Joab and his servants are roughing it out in the fields. So, how can I go home and eat and drink and enjoy my wife? On your life, I’ll not do it!”
12-13 “All right,” said David, “have it your way. Stay for the day and I’ll send you back tomorrow.” So Uriah stayed in Jerusalem the rest of the day.
The next day David invited him to eat and drink with him, and David got him drunk. But in the evening Uriah again went out and slept with his master’s servants. He didn’t go home.
14-15 In the morning David wrote a letter to Joab and sent it with Uriah. In the letter he wrote, “Put Uriah in the front lines where the fighting is the fiercest. Then pull back and leave him exposed so that he’s sure to be killed.”
16-17 So Joab, holding the city under siege, put Uriah in a place where he knew there were fierce enemy fighters. When the city’s defenders came out to fight Joab, some of David’s soldiers were killed, including Uriah the Hittite.
18-21 Joab sent David a full report on the battle. He instructed the messenger, “After you have given to the king a detailed report on the battle, if he flares in anger, say, ‘And by the way, your servant Uriah the Hittite is dead.’”
22-24 Joab’s messenger arrived in Jerusalem and gave the king a full report. He said, “The enemy was too much for us. They advanced on us in the open field, and we pushed them back to the city gate. But then arrows came hot and heavy on us from the city wall, and eighteen of the king’s soldiers died.”
25 When the messenger completed his report of the battle, David got angry at Joab. He vented it on the messenger: “Why did you get so close to the city? Didn’t you know you’d be attacked from the wall? Didn’t you remember how Abimelech son of Jerub-Besheth got killed? Wasn’t it a woman who dropped a millstone on him from the wall and crushed him at Thebez? Why did you go close to the wall!”
“By the way,” said Joab’s messenger, “your servant Uriah the Hittite is dead.”
Then David told the messenger, “Oh. I see. Tell Joab, ‘Don’t trouble yourself over this. War kills—sometimes one, sometimes another—you never know who’s next. Redouble your assault on the city and destroy it.’ Encourage Joab.”
26-27 When Uriah’s wife heard that her husband was dead, she grieved for her husband. When the time of mourning was over, David sent someone to bring her to his house. She became his wife and bore him a son.

Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Wednesday, August 17, 2022
Today's Scripture
Acts 15:36–40
After a few days of this, Paul said to Barnabas, “Let’s go back and visit all our friends in each of the towns where we preached the Word of God. Let’s see how they’re doing.”
37–41  Barnabas wanted to take John along, the John nicknamed Mark. But Paul wouldn’t have him; he wasn’t about to take along a quitter who, as soon as the going got tough, had jumped ship on them in Pamphylia. Tempers flared, and they ended up going their separate ways: Barnabas took Mark and sailed for Cyprus; Paul chose Silas and, offered up by their friends to the grace of the Master,
Insight
Learning is one of the most important aspects of living—even for great thinkers and leaders like the apostle Paul. We see this learning in process when we consider his attitude toward John Mark in Acts 15 compared to his attitude in 2 Timothy 4. In Acts 15:38, when Paul and Barnabas agreed to visit the churches they’d planted, Paul refused to allow John Mark to accompany them because on the previous trip the young man had “deserted” them. In 2 Timothy 4:10–16, Paul wrote that when he needed support from his friends, they also had “deserted” him. Here, however, instead of throwing them away for their desertion (as he had John Mark), he pleaded that this not be held against them. An astonishing change of attitude—which is reinforced by Paul’s words of respect and appreciation for Mark in 2 Timothy 4:11.
By: Bill Crowder
The Making of Me
Barnabas wanted to take John . . . with them, but Paul did not think it wise to take him.

Acts 15:37–38
Seven-year-old Thomas Edison didn’t like or do well in school. One day, he was even called “addled” (mentally confused) by a teacher. He stormed home. After speaking with the teacher the next day, his mom, a teacher by training, decided to teach Thomas at home. Helped along by her love and encouragement (and his God-given genius), Thomas went on to become a great inventor. He later wrote, “My mother was the making of me. She was so true, so sure of me, and I felt I had someone to live for, someone I must not disappoint.”
In Acts 15, we read that Barnabas and the apostle Paul served together as missionaries until they had a major disagreement about whether or not to bring along John Mark. Paul was opposed because Mark had earlier “deserted them in Pamphylia” (vv. 36–38). As a result, Paul and Barnabas split. Paul took Silas and Barnabas took Mark. Barnabas was willing to give Mark a second chance, and his encouragement contributed to Mark’s ability to serve and succeed as a missionary. He went on to write the gospel of Mark and was even a comfort to Paul while he was in prison (2 Timothy 4:11).
Many of us can look back and point to someone in our life who encouraged and helped us along our way. God may be calling you to do the same for someone in your life. Whom might you encourage?
By:  Alyson Kieda
Reflect & Pray
Who had faith in you and helped you succeed? What did that person do to encourage you?
 
Dear God, thank You for walking alongside me and placing people in my life who helped to make me who I am today.

My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Wednesday, August 17, 2022
Are You Discouraged or Devoted?
…Jesus…said to him, "You still lack one thing. Sell all that you have…and come, follow Me." But when he heard this, he became very sorrowful, for he was very rich. —Luke 18:22-23
Have you ever heard the Master say something very difficult to you? If you haven’t, I question whether you have ever heard Him say anything at all. Jesus says a tremendous amount to us that we listen to, but do not actually hear. And once we do hear Him, His words are harsh and unyielding.
Jesus did not show the least concern that this rich young ruler should do what He told him, nor did Jesus make any attempt to keep this man with Him. He simply said to him, “Sell all that you have…and come, follow Me.” Our Lord never pleaded with him; He never tried to lure him— He simply spoke the strictest words that human ears have ever heard, and then left him alone.
Have I ever heard Jesus say something difficult and unyielding to me? Has He said something personally to me to which I have deliberately listened— not something I can explain for the sake of others, but something I have heard Him say directly to me? This man understood what Jesus said. He heard it clearly, realizing the full impact of its meaning, and it broke his heart. He did not go away as a defiant person, but as one who was sorrowful and discouraged. He had come to Jesus on fire with zeal and determination, but the words of Jesus simply froze him. Instead of producing enthusiastic devotion to Jesus, they produced heartbreaking discouragement. And Jesus did not go after him, but let him go. Our Lord knows perfectly well that once His word is truly heard, it will bear fruit sooner or later. What is so terrible is that some of us prevent His words from bearing fruit in our present life. I wonder what we will say when we finally make up our minds to be devoted to Him on that particular point? One thing is certain— He will never throw our past failures back in our faces.
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
We all have the trick of saying—If only I were not where I am!—If only I had not got the kind of people I have to live with! If our faith or our religion does not help us in the conditions we are in, we have either a further struggle to go through, or we had better abandon that faith and religion.  The Shadow of an Agony, 1178 L
Bible in a Year: Psalms 97-99; Romans 16

A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Wednesday, August 17, 2022
LOTS OF BLESSING, NOT MUCH IMPACT - #9288
I was in a city that a hurricane had just missed. And we were very blessed to have not been hit by all that wind. But we did get two days of the wet weather leftovers. I mean, we're talking drenching rain here! One morning it was pouring, and I drove by a bank. And I saw something, and I had to laugh in the middle of the torrents coming down. The sprinklers came on right on schedule. Yeah! They were doing a beautiful job of watering the lawn, which really didn't need any water.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Lots of Blessing, Not Much Impact."
Now our word for today from the Word of God. We're in 2 Kings, with this curious story that's in the 7th chapter. The capital city of Samaria is under siege, and the Syrian Army has cut off all food. So the people in the city are literally starving to death. I mean, it's so desperate in the city that people have even resorted to cannibalism to stay alive.
Now, there are these four lepers who live outside the city. And they decided since they're already going to die, they might as well try to surrender to the enemy army. If they're captured as prisoners of war, maybe they'll get fed. So when they get to the enemy camp, they discover that God has performed a miracle. The camp is empty. So they find all this food, and empty tents just standing there. And they stuff themselves all night.
Then we come to verse 9, "They said to each other, 'We're not doing right.'" It was about time they figured that out. Then it goes on, "This is a day of good news and we are keeping it to ourselves. If we wait until daylight, punishment will overtake us. Let's go at once and report this." What a scene this is! These four men are sitting on this pile of food, while multitudes in the city are starving.
It reminds me of those sprinklers on that rainy day. Water wasn't really needed; it was just soaking what was already soaked. A Christian from the former Soviet Union once said to the team our daughter was on, "The problem with American Christians is that you are 'over-feeded'" Well, he's right. We are so blessed.
We're soaked with blessings no Christians have ever had before. We've got Christian everything: Christian radio, Christian TV, Christian internet, concerts, festivals, retreats, and seminars. But it's almost all for us. We're already stuffed, but we line up for another helping of blessing don't we? We're already soaked, but we turn on the sprinklers for more showers of blessing. Something's wrong here. Let's not forget what our Master's heart is. He said, "I have come to seek and to save..." Not that which is found, but He says "that which is lost."
He talks about a harvest where "the harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few." He says, "I can't find laborers to go get the harvest. They're too busy eating the harvest." A self-focused church, a self-focused Christian? That's not the will of God. We follow a Savior who left the comfort of heaven, to live among the lost. He laid down His life to bring them home to God.
He sure can't be very happy with us when we focus on going to our Christian meetings, going to our conferences, listening to our Christian speakers, our songs, keeping all busy with our Christian schedule and ignoring the dying people within our reach. The spiritually destitute are starving to death as surely as those people were back in the book of 2 Kings.
Like our Master, we need to live our lives for the lost people that He gave His life for. In the words of those lepers, "This is a day of good news and we are keeping it to ourselves." There are plenty of lives that get no spiritual rain. Let's not aim our sprinklers at the already soaked. Let's take them to the places where it never rains.

2 Samuel 10, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals

Max Lucado Daily: YOUR SPIRITUAL INHERITANCE - August 16, 2022
Let’s talk about our inheritance. As a child of God, you have one, you know. You aren’t merely a slave, servant, or saint of God. No, you have legal right to the family business and fortune of heaven. The will has been executed, the courts have been satisfied, your spiritual account has been funded. He “has blessed you with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places” (Ephesians 1:3).
Need more patience? It’s yours. Need more joy? Request it. Running low on wisdom? God has plenty. And you will never exhaust his resources. At no time does he wave away your prayer with “Oh, I’m tired; I’m weary; I’m depleted.”
God is wealthy in love, in hope, and overflowing in wisdom. “No one has ever seen, no ear has heard, no mind has imagined what God has prepared for those who love him” (1 Corinthians 2:9). Because God’s promises are unbreakable our hope is unshakable!

2 Samuel 10
Sometime after this, the king of the Ammonites died and Hanun, his son, succeeded him as king. David said, “I’d like to show some kindness to Hanun, the son of Nahash—treat him as well and as kindly as his father treated me.” So David sent Hanun condolences regarding his father.
2-3 But when David’s servants got to the land of the Ammonites, the Ammonite leaders warned Hanun, their head delegate, “Do you for a minute suppose that David is honoring your father by sending you comforters? Don’t you think it’s because he wants to snoop around the city and size it up that David has sent his emissaries to you?”
4 So Hanun seized David’s men, shaved off half their beards, cut off their robes halfway up their buttocks, and sent them packing.
5 When all this was reported to David, he sent someone to meet them, for they were seriously humiliated. The king told them, “Stay in Jericho until your beards grow out. Only then come back.”
6 When it dawned on the Ammonites that as far as David was concerned they stunk to high heaven, they hired Aramean soldiers from Beth-Rehob and Zobah—twenty thousand infantry—and a thousand men from the king of Maacah, and twelve thousand men from Tob.
7 When David heard of this, he dispatched Joab with his strongest fighters in full force.
8-12 The Ammonites marched out and arranged themselves in battle formation at the city gate. The Arameans of Zobah and Rehob and the men of Tob and Maacah took up a position out in the open fields. When Joab saw that he had two fronts to fight, before and behind, he took his pick of the best of Israel and deployed them to confront the Arameans. The rest of the army he put under the command of Abishai, his brother, and deployed them to confront the Ammonites. Then he said, “If the Arameans are too much for me, you help me. And if the Ammonites prove too much for you, I’ll come and help you. Courage! We’ll fight tooth and nail for our people and for the cities of our God. And God will do whatever he sees needs doing!”
13-14 But when Joab and his soldiers moved in to fight the Arameans, they ran off in full retreat. Then the Ammonites, seeing the Arameans run for dear life, took to their heels from Abishai and went into the city.
So Joab left off fighting the Ammonites and returned to Jerusalem.
15-17 When the Arameans saw how badly they’d been beaten by Israel, they picked up the pieces and regrouped. Hadadezer sent for the Arameans who were across the River. They came to Helam. Shobach, commander of Hadadezer’s army, led them. All this was reported to David.
17-19 So David mustered Israel, crossed the Jordan, and came to Helam. The Arameans went into battle formation, ready for David, and the fight was on. But the Arameans again scattered before Israel. David killed seven hundred chariot drivers and forty thousand cavalry. And he mortally wounded Shobach, the army commander, who died on the battlefield. When all the kings who were vassals of Hadadezer saw that they had been routed by Israel, they made peace and became Israel’s vassals. The Arameans were afraid to help the Ammonites ever again.
 

Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Tuesday, August 16, 2022
Today's Scripture
Psalm 51:10–17
God, make a fresh start in me,
shape a Genesis week from the chaos of my life.
Don’t throw me out with the trash,
or fail to breathe holiness in me.
Bring me back from gray exile,
put a fresh wind in my sails!
Give me a job teaching rebels your ways
so the lost can find their way home.
Commute my death sentence, God, my salvation God,
and I’ll sing anthems to your life-giving ways.
Unbutton my lips, dear God;
I’ll let loose with your praise.
16–17  Going through the motions doesn’t please you,
a flawless performance is nothing to you.
I learned God-worship
when my pride was shattered.
Heart-shattered lives ready for love
don’t for a moment escape God’s notice.
Insight
The superscription to Psalm 51 reads: “A psalm of David. When the prophet Nathan came to him after David had committed adultery with Bathsheba.” The backstory to this psalm can be found in 2 Samuel 11–12, where we read that David refused to confess his double sin of murdering Uriah and committing adultery with Bathsheba for almost a year. God then sent the prophet Nathan to confront him. After repenting from his sins, many scholars believe David penned Psalms 32 and 51. (Some scholars add Psalm 86 as well.) Psalm 51 is one of the seven “penitential psalms” (also Psalms 6, 32, 38, 102, 130, 143), so called because the writer, in repentant sorrow, confessed his sins and turned to God for His mercy and forgiveness. Psalm 51 has become a model prayer for believers in Jesus today as we seek God to forgive our sins.
By: K. T. Sim

Crushed and Beautiful
My sacrifice, O God, is a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart. Psalm 51:17

At first glance I dismissed the painting Consider the Lilies by Makoto Fujimura as a simple, monochromatic painting featuring a lily seemingly hiding in the background. However, the painting came alive when I learned it was actually painted with more than eighty layers of finely crushed minerals in a style of Japanese art known as Nihonga, a style Fujimura calls “slow art.” Looking closely reveals layers of complexity and beauty. Fujimura explains that he sees the gospel echoed in the technique of making “beauty through brokenness,” just as Jesus’ suffering brought the world wholeness and hope.
God loves to take aspects of our lives where we’ve been crushed and broken and create something new and beautiful. King David needed God’s help to repair the brokenness in his life caused by his own devastating actions. In Psalm 51, written after admitting to abusing his kingly power to take another man’s wife and arrange the murder of her husband, David offered God his “broken and contrite heart” (v. 17) and pleaded for mercy. The Hebrew word translated “contrite” is nidkeh, meaning “crushed.”
For God to refashion his heart (v. 10), David had to first offer Him the broken pieces. It was both an admission of sorrow and trust. David entrusted his heart to a faithful and forgiving God, who lovingly takes what’s been crushed and transforms it into something beautiful.
By:  Lisa M. Samra
Reflect & Pray
What parts of your heart are crushed? How might you entrust your brokenness to God?
Dear God, I entrust my brokenness to You, believing that in Your time, You'll transform it into something truly beautiful.

My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Tuesday, August 16, 2022

Does He Know Me?
He calls his own…by name… —John 10:3
When I have sadly misunderstood Him? (see John 20:11-18). It is possible to know all about doctrine and still not know Jesus. A person’s soul is in grave danger when the knowledge of doctrine surpasses Jesus, avoiding intimate touch with Him. Why was Mary weeping? Doctrine meant no more to her than the grass under her feet. In fact, any Pharisee could have made a fool of Mary doctrinally, but one thing they could never ridicule was the fact that Jesus had cast seven demons out of her (see Luke 8:2); yet His blessings were nothing to her in comparison with knowing Jesus Himself. “…she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, and did not know that it was Jesus….Jesus said to her, ‘Mary!’ ” (John 20:14, 16). Once He called Mary by her name, she immediately knew that she had a personal history with the One who spoke. “She turned and said to Him, ‘Rabboni!’ ” (John 20:16).
When I have stubbornly doubted? (see John 20:24-29). Have I been doubting something about Jesus— maybe an experience to which others testify, but which I have not yet experienced? The other disciples said to Thomas, “We have seen the Lord” (John 20:25). But Thomas doubted, saying, “Unless I see…I will not believe” (John 20:25). Thomas needed the personal touch of Jesus. When His touches will come we never know, but when they do come they are indescribably precious. “Thomas…said to Him, ‘My Lord and my God!’ ” (John 20:28).
When I have selfishly denied Him? (see John 21:15-17). Peter denied Jesus Christ with oaths and curses (see Matthew 26:69-75), and yet after His resurrection Jesus appeared to Peter alone. Jesus restored Peter in private, and then He restored him publicly before the others. And Peter said to Him, “Lord…You know that I love You” (John 21:17).
Do I have a personal history with Jesus Christ? The one true sign of discipleship is intimate oneness with Him— a knowledge of Jesus that nothing can shake.
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
We are not to preach the doing of good things; good deeds are not to be preached, they are to be performed. So Send I You, 1330 L
Bible in a Year: Psalms 94-96; Romans 15:14-33

A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Tuesday, August 16, 2022
ANSWERS AT THE END OF YOUR ROPE - #9287
I was ten years old, and I had one of the most frightening moments of my life. I was out with some of my friends about my age in Lake Michigan. Some reason I panicked in the water and I started to go under. I can still remember it like it was today. I really, really felt like I was going to die. Now, unfortunately, my friends did not take my cries for help seriously. "Oh, there's Ron! He's clowning around again! He's goofing off!" I guess that's the price you pay for being a clown, which I guess I was...and I am. Well, I began to flail around; I was desperately trying to save myself. And someone, thank God, saw me. I mean, they saw I was really in trouble and they came to my rescue. And when they did, I quit thrashing, I quit trying to swim, and because I did they were able to rescue me obviously. You know why? I quit trying to rescue myself!
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Answers at the End of Your Rope."
Our word for today from the Word of God comes from Mark 5. I'll begin reading at verse 25, "And the woman was there who had been subject to bleeding for twelve years. She had suffered a great deal under the care of many doctors, she'd spent all she had, yet instead of getting better she grew worse. When she heard about Jesus, she came up behind Him in the crowd and touched His cloak because she thought, 'If I just touch His clothes, I'll be healed.' Immediately her bleeding stopped and she felt in her body that she was freed from her suffering."
Well, here's a lady who had spent years, you might say, thrashing around trying to save herself, and every time she goes under. Then when she ran out of human solutions and earthly resources, she almost literally lunged for Jesus. Here's a desperate woman grabbing His robe and she got the answer that had eluded her for all those years. You know what? That's probably the only way you'll get your answer.
See, there's a condition that God can do the most with. It's called desperation. When I'm out of answers, I'm willing to admit I'm out of answers. At that point, you can choose to go to the Lord broken and powerless. But you know what? We usually have to be driven there. But there's no condition God can do more with than powerlessness. It's the most powerful position you could be in. See, we already are powerless; we don't have the resources. We just have to get to the point where we know it and we'll admit it.
Why do we wait until we're driven to the edge? We North American Christians have so many other resources we can trust in. Other believers in other parts of the world only have God. Actually that's all we have too.
Maybe you've been trying to plan an answer, or engineer an answer, politic it, manipulate it, talk an answer, work an answer, you prayed but not in desperation. You still have other things you're depending on. God's using this need to teach you one of life's sweetest lessons: Jesus is enough. He's the source. You learn that, not when you casually approach Him to help you, but when you lunge for Him, cry out for Him, come broken to Him, and grab His robe. It's only when you realize when Jesus died on the cross to become your Rescuer from your sin, because there was nothing you could do to rescue yourself, that's when you finally change your eternal destination from hell to heaven. That's where you finally experience having every sin of your life forgiven. That's where you get this peace of knowing that when you die you will be in heaven with Him.
Maybe this is that day for you - your day of personal rescue. Take it from a boy who almost drowned, thrashing around getting nowhere. As long as I was flailing around I was pretty hard to rescue. So are you. Your religion, your goodness, it will never get you to heaven. It can't possibly pay the death penalty for your sin.
I'd love to show you the way to begin that relationship with Him. That's what our website's for. Would you go there? It's ANewStory.com. When you know you're going down for the third time and you grab your Savior, you will finally be safe in those arms that have wanted to carry you all along.

John 2 , Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals

Max Lucado Daily:  WEAPONS OF SPIRITUAL WARFARE - August 15, 2022
Make no mistake, the devil is a real devil! Every conflict is a contest with Satan and his forces. For that reason, the Bible says,“Though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh. For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds” (2 Corinthians 10:3-4).
What are these weapons? Prayer, worship, and Scripture. When we pray, we engage the power of God against the devil. When we worship, we do what Satan did not do – we place God on the throne. When we pick up the sword of Scripture, we do what Jesus did in the wilderness. He responded to Satan by proclaiming truth. And since Satan has a severe allergy to truth, he left Jesus alone. Satan will not linger long where God is praised and prayers are offered.
And because God’s promises are unbreakable our hope is unshakable!

John 2
From Water to Wine
Three days later there was a wedding in the village of Cana in Galilee. Jesus’ mother was there. Jesus and his disciples were guests also. When they started running low on wine at the wedding banquet, Jesus’ mother told him, “They’re just about out of wine.”
4 Jesus said, “Is that any of our business, Mother—yours or mine? This isn’t my time. Don’t push me.”
5 She went ahead anyway, telling the servants, “Whatever he tells you, do it.”
6-7 Six stoneware water pots were there, used by the Jews for ritual washings. Each held twenty to thirty gallons. Jesus ordered the servants, “Fill the pots with water.” And they filled them to the brim.
8 “Now fill your pitchers and take them to the host,” Jesus said, and they did.
9-10 When the host tasted the water that had become wine (he didn’t know what had just happened but the servants, of course, knew), he called out to the bridegroom, “Everybody I know begins with their finest wines and after the guests have had their fill brings in the cheap stuff. But you’ve saved the best till now!”
11 This act in Cana of Galilee was the first sign Jesus gave, the first glimpse of his glory. And his disciples believed in him.
12 After this he went down to Capernaum along with his mother, brothers, and disciples, and stayed several days.
Tear Down This Temple?.?.?.
13-14 When the Passover Feast, celebrated each spring by the Jews, was about to take place, Jesus traveled up to Jerusalem. He found the Temple teeming with people selling cattle and sheep and doves. The loan sharks were also there in full strength.
15-17 Jesus put together a whip out of strips of leather and chased them out of the Temple, stampeding the sheep and cattle, upending the tables of the loan sharks, spilling coins left and right. He told the dove merchants, “Get your things out of here! Stop turning my Father’s house into a shopping mall!” That’s when his disciples remembered the Scripture, “Zeal for your house consumes me.”
18-19 But the Jews were upset. They asked, “What credentials can you present to justify this?” Jesus answered, “Tear down this Temple and in three days I’ll put it back together.”
20-22 They were indignant: “It took forty-six years to build this Temple, and you’re going to rebuild it in three days?” But Jesus was talking about his body as the Temple. Later, after he was raised from the dead, his disciples remembered he had said this. They then put two and two together and believed both what was written in Scripture and what Jesus had said.
23-25 During the time he was in Jerusalem, those days of the Passover Feast, many people noticed the signs he was displaying and, seeing they pointed straight to God, entrusted their lives to him. But Jesus didn’t entrust his life to them. He knew them inside and out, knew how untrustworthy they were. He didn’t need any help in seeing right through them.

Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Monday, August 15, 2022
Today's Scripture
Ephesians 4:2–13
And mark that you do this with humility and discipline—not in fits and starts, but steadily, pouring yourselves out for each other in acts of love, alert at noticing differences and quick at mending fences.
4–6  You were all called to travel on the same road and in the same direction, so stay together, both outwardly and inwardly. You have one Master, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who rules over all, works through all, and is present in all. Everything you are and think and do is permeated with Oneness.
7–13  But that doesn’t mean you should all look and speak and act the same. Out of the generosity of Christ, each of us is given his own gift. The text for this is,
He climbed the high mountain,
He captured the enemy and seized the booty,
He handed it all out in gifts to the people.
Is it not true that the One who climbed up also climbed down, down to the valley of earth? And the One who climbed down is the One who climbed back up, up to highest heaven. He handed out gifts above and below, filled heaven with his gifts, filled earth with his gifts. He handed out gifts of apostle, prophet, evangelist, and pastor-teacher to train Christ’s followers in skilled servant work, working within Christ’s body, the church, until we’re all moving rhythmically and easily with each other, efficient and graceful in response to God’s Son, fully mature adults, fully developed within and without, fully alive like Christ.
Insight
In Ephesians 4:2, the apostle Paul urged believers in Jesus to “be completely humble and gentle.” He spoke about gentleness in his other letters as well. He was the founding pastor of the church at Corinth (Acts 18:1–11), yet soon after he left, the believers rejected him as a true apostle. Instead of coming down hard on them, however, he appealed to them “by the humility and gentleness of Christ” (2 Corinthians 10:1). In his letter to another church, Paul urged two feuding sisters to reconcile and asked that their “gentleness be evident to all” (Philippians 4:5). The Scriptures show us that we’re to be kind, gracious, respectful, and gentle to everyone.
By: K. T. Sim

The Marriage Metaphor
Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love.

Ephesians 4:2

After twenty-two years together, I sometimes wonder how my marriage to Merryn works. I’m a writer; Merryn is a statistician. I work with words; she works with numbers. I want beauty; she wants function. We come from different worlds.
Merryn arrives to appointments early; I’m occasionally late. I try new things on the menu; she orders the same. After twenty minutes at an art gallery, I’m just getting started, while Merryn is already in the cafe downstairs wondering how much longer I’ll be. We give each other many opportunities to learn patience!
We do have things in common—a shared sense of humor, a love of travel, and a common faith that helps us pray through options and compromise as needed. With this shared base, our differences even work to our advantage. Merryn has helped me learn to relax, while I’ve helped her grow in discipline. Working with our differences has made us better people.
Paul uses marriage as a metaphor for the church (Ephesians 5:21–33), and with good reason. Like marriage, church brings very different people together, requiring them to develop humility and patience and to “[bear] with one another in love” (4:2). And, as in marriage, a shared base of faith and mutual service helps a church become unified and mature (vv. 11–13).
Differences in relationships can cause great frustration—in the church and in marriage. But managed well, they can help us become more Christlike.
By:  Sheridan Voysey
Reflect & Pray
How have differences between you and those close to you helped you both to grow? How can differences between church members help to develop godliness?
Heavenly Father, please use our differences to help us mature.
To learn how to strengthen your marriage, visit https://odbu.org/cc010?utm_source=ODB+devotional&utm_medium=ODB+article&utm_campaign=ODB+article+August+15th&utm_id=ODB+August+15th

My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Monday, August 15, 2022
The Evidence of the New Birth
You must be born again. —John 3:7
The answer to Nicodemus’ question, “How can a man be born when he is old?” is: Only when he is willing to die to everything in his life, including his rights, his virtues, and his religion, and becomes willing to receive into himself a new life that he has never before experienced (John 3:4). This new life exhibits itself in our conscious repentance and through our unconscious holiness.
“But as many as received Him…” (John 1:12). Is my knowledge of Jesus the result of my own internal spiritual perception, or is it only what I have learned through listening to others? Is there something in my life that unites me with the Lord Jesus as my personal Savior? My spiritual history must have as its underlying foundation a personal knowledge of Jesus Christ. To be born again means that I see Jesus.
“…unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God ” (John 3:3). Am I seeking only for the evidence of God’s kingdom, or am I actually recognizing His absolute sovereign control? The new birth gives me a new power of vision by which I begin to discern God’s control. His sovereignty was there all the time, but with God being true to His nature, I could not see it until I received His very nature myself.
“Whoever has been born of God does not sin…” (1 John 3:9). Am I seeking to stop sinning or have I actually stopped? To be born of God means that I have His supernatural power to stop sinning. The Bible never asks, “Should a Christian sin?” The Bible emphatically states that a Christian must not sin. The work of the new birth is being effective in us when we do not commit sin. It is not merely that we have the power not to sin, but that we have actually stopped sinning. Yet 1 John 3:9 does not mean that we cannot sin— it simply means that if we will obey the life of God in us, that we do not have to sin.
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
Both nations and individuals have tried Christianity and abandoned it, because it has been found too difficult; but no man has ever gone through the crisis of deliberately making Jesus Lord and found Him to be a failure. The Love of God—The Making of a Christian, 680 R
Bible in a Year: Psalms 91-93; Romans 15:1-13

A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Monday, August 15, 2022
Our friend's horse was in a jam. She had accidentally stepped into a small feeder that's usually used to hold a mineral block. It was so bitter cold that the bottom cracked when the mare stepped on it and her hoof went all the way through. Of course, that created something like a plastic bracelet around her hoof and she couldn't get it off. Visiting relatives saw the mare just standing there like a statue; traumatized and paralyzed by this thing that wouldn't come off her foot. So, they went out there to help. One of them calmed the horse while the other worked on setting her free. This is interesting because usually this horse would balk at letting strangers get near her. Not this time. She stood perfectly still, somehow realizing that these people had come to help her out of her jam. And they did.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Paralyzing Predicaments."
Even though that horse was scared, she was smart enough to let someone help her. Sadly, she was smarter than many of us when we're hurting or when we're in a predicament. Maybe you're struggling right now, but you're struggling alone. You're not letting anyone else in to help you and you're stuck in your problem. Like that horse, you may not be able to move on unless and until you open up to some help.
Some of us are trying to be Lone Rangers, keeping everything inside, stuffing it, proudly trying to handle it all by ourselves. But even the Lone Ranger had Tonto! In our word for today from the Word of God, the Lord makes clear that He believes in the power of two more than the power of one. Ecclesiastes 4, beginning with verse 9, actually says, "Two are better one... if one falls down, his friend can help him up. But pity the man who falls down and has no one to help him up! ... Though one may be overpowered, two can defend themselves. A cord of three strands is not quickly broken."
By the way, I believe those three strands are you, God, and someone you open up to and let them help you. And right now you may be standing, basically paralyzed, because of your reluctance to let someone get close enough to help you. It's time to share that burden, however frightened or ashamed or wounded you may be. Share it with a pastor, a counselor, a mature Christian friend ... a family member you trust. You need their perspective. You need their support. You need their wisdom. They'll be able to see things you can't see. They'll think of things from an objective perspective - whether it's your marriage, or your past, your addiction, your big decision, your dark secret, or any other struggle. You were never meant to face it alone.
By the way, after that horse was rescued from her predicament, she responded in an interesting way. She didn't move for hours - even though she was free. That could be a picture of someone who's listening right now. Christ has given you His new identity, His forgiveness, His grace for your grief. He's given you His freedom to make your future different from your past. But you're still standing there like you're still a prisoner; like you're still a victim. Hey, you're free! You can walk, you can trot, and you can gallop. It's time to get moving again!
God commands us to "forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. See, I am doing a new thing!" (Isaiah 43:18). Open up to the help of your Lord. Open up to the help of someone He will use to help you get moving again. Then, don't keep dwelling on the trouble or the trauma. You don't have to be paralyzed. You're free to run again!

Psalm 60 , Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals

Max Lucado Daily: A Vision of the Reward
Paul said in II Corinthians 4:16-18, “We do not lose heart. . .for our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all.  So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen.” Hear what Paul called “light and momentary”—not what I’d have called them, and I think you’ll agree. Imprisoned. Beaten. Stoned. Shipwrecked three times. In constant danger. Hungry and thirsty. Light and momentary troubles? How could Paul describe endless trials with that phrase? He tells us. He could see “an eternal glory that far out-weighs them all.”
And you–you want to go on, but some days the road seems so long. Let me encourage you with this: God never said the journey would be easy, but he did say that the arrival would be worth it!
From In the Eye of the Storm

Psalm 60
God! you walked off and left us,
    kicked our defenses to bits
And stomped off angry.
    Come back. Oh please, come back!
You shook earth to the foundations,
    ripped open huge crevasses.
Heal the breaks! Everything’s
    coming apart at the seams.
3-5 You made your people look doom in the face,
    then gave us cheap wine to drown our troubles.
Then you planted a flag to rally your people,
    an unfurled flag to look to for courage.
Now do something quickly, answer right now,
    so the one you love best is saved.
6-8 That’s when God spoke in holy splendor,
    “Bursting with joy,
I make a present of Shechem,
    I hand out Succoth Valley as a gift.
Gilead’s in my pocket,
    to say nothing of Manasseh.
Ephraim’s my hard hat,
    Judah my hammer;
Moab’s a scrub bucket,
    I mop the floor with Moab,
Spit on Edom,
    rain fireworks all over Philistia.”
9-10 Who will take me to the thick of the fight?
    Who’ll show me the road to Edom?
You aren’t giving up on us, are you, God?
    refusing to go out with our troops?
11-12 Give us help for the hard task;
    human help is worthless.
In God we’ll do our very best;
    he’ll flatten the opposition for good.

Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Sunday, August 14, 2022

Today's Scripture
Deuteronomy 31:1–8
The Charge
1–2  31 Moses went on and addressed these words to all Israel. He said, “I’m 120 years old today. I can’t get about as I used to. And God told me, ‘You’re not going to cross this Jordan River.’
3–5  “God, your God, will cross the river ahead of you and destroy the nations in your path so that you may dispossess them. (And Joshua will cross the river before you, as God said he would.) God will give the nations the same treatment he gave the kings of the Amorites, Sihon and Og, and their land; he’ll destroy them. God will hand the nations over to you, and you’ll treat them exactly as I have commanded you.
6  “Be strong. Take courage. Don’t be intimidated. Don’t give them a second thought because God, your God, is striding ahead of you. He’s right there with you. He won’t let you down; he won’t leave you.”
7–8  Then Moses summoned Joshua. He said to him with all Israel watching, “Be strong. Take courage. You will enter the land with this people, this land that God promised their ancestors that he’d give them. You will make them the proud possessors of it. God is striding ahead of you. He’s right there with you. He won’t let you down; he won’t leave you. Don’t be intimidated. Don’t worry.”
Insight
As the Israelites were preparing to enter the promised land, Moses wouldn’t be leading them (Deuteronomy 31:2–3). Why? At Meribah, when God told him to speak to a rock so that water would pour from it, Moses disobeyed by striking the rock instead (Numbers 20). The result was the same, but the problem was Moses was so angry at the bickering people that he made it appear that he and Aaron were responsible for bringing water from the rock. As he struck the rock, he declared: “Listen, you rebels, must we bring you water out of this rock?” (v. 10). Because Moses “did not trust in [God] enough to honor [Him] as holy in the sight of the Israelites” (v. 12), he wasn’t allowed to enter the promised land. By: Alyson Kieda
Grace for Trials
[The Lord] will never leave you nor forsake you. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged.
Deuteronomy 31:8

Annie Johnson Flint was crippled by severe arthritis just a few years after high school. She never walked again and relied on others to help care for her needs. Because of her poetry and hymns, she received many visitors, including a deaconess who felt discouraged about her own ministry. When the visitor returned home, she wrote to Annie, wondering why God allowed such hard things in her life.  
In response, Annie sent a poem: “God hath not promised skies always blue, / flower-strewn pathways all our lives through. . . .” She knew from experience that suffering often occurred, but that God would never abandon those He loves. Instead, He promised to give “grace for the trials, help from above, / unfailing sympathy, undying love.” You may recognize that poem as the hymn “What God Hath Promised.”
Moses also suffered and faced strife, but He knew God’s presence was with him. When he passed his leadership of the Israelites to Joshua, he told the younger man to be strong and courageous, because “the Lord your God goes with you” (Deuteronomy 31:6). Moses, knowing that the people of Israel would face formidable enemies as they entered and took the promised land, said to Joshua, “Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged” (v. 8).
Disciples of Christ will face hardship, but we have God’s Spirit to encourage us. He'll never leave us.
Reflect & Pray
When you endure trials, how do you trust in God? How could you share your stories of His faithfulness with others?
Heavenly Father, when I'm feeling discouraged and distressed, please remind me through Your Spirit that You'll never leave me.

My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Sunday, August 14, 2022
The Discipline of the Lord
My son, do not despise the chastening of the Lord, nor be discouraged when you are rebuked by Him. —Hebrews 12:5
It is very easy to grieve the Spirit of God; we do it by despising the discipline of the Lord, or by becoming discouraged when He rebukes us. If our experience of being set apart from sin and being made holy through the process of sanctification is still very shallow, we tend to mistake the reality of God for something else. And when the Spirit of God gives us a sense of warning or restraint, we are apt to say mistakenly, “Oh, that must be from the devil.”
“Do not quench the Spirit” (1 Thessalonians 5:19), and do not despise Him when He says to you, in effect, “Don’t be blind on this point anymore— you are not as far along spiritually as you thought you were. Until now I have not been able to reveal this to you, but I’m revealing it to you right now.” When the Lord disciplines you like that, let Him have His way with you. Allow Him to put you into a right-standing relationship before God.
“…nor be discouraged when you are rebuked by Him.” We begin to pout, become irritated with God, and then say, “Oh well, I can’t help it. I prayed and things didn’t turn out right anyway. So I’m simply going to give up on everything.” Just think what would happen if we acted like this in any other area of our lives!
Am I fully prepared to allow God to grip me by His power and do a work in me that is truly worthy of Himself? Sanctification is not my idea of what I want God to do for me— sanctification is God’s idea of what He wants to do for me. But He has to get me into the state of mind and spirit where I will allow Him to sanctify me completely, whatever the cost (see 1 Thessalonians 5:23-24).
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
Awe is the condition of a man’s spirit realizing Who God is and what He has done for him personally. Our Lord emphasizes the attitude of a child; no attitude can express such solemn awe and familiarity as that of a child.  Not Knowing Whither, 882 L
Bible in a Year: Psalms 89-90; Romans 14