Friday, April 20, 2018

"Can A Saint Slander God?" by Oswald Chambers - My Utmost for His Highest for Friday, 20 April 2018 Daily Devotional

"Can A Saint Slander God?" by Oswald Chambers - My Utmost for His Highest for Friday, 20 April 2018 Daily Devotional
"Can A Saint Slander God?" by Oswald Chambers
For all the promises of God in Him are yea, and in Him Amen. (2 CORINTHIANS 1:20)
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Jesus told the parable of the talents recorded in Matthew 25 as a warning that it is possible for us to misjudge our capacity. This parable has not to do with natural gifts, but with the Pentecostal gift of the Holy Ghost. We must not measure our spiritual capacity by education or by intellect; our capacity in spiritual things is measured by the promises of God. If we get less than God wants us to have, before long we will slander Him as the servant slandered his master: “You expect more than You give me power to do; You demand too much of me, I cannot stand true to You where I am placed.” When it is a question of God’s Almighty Spirit, never say “I can’t.” Never let the limitation of natural ability come in. If we have received the Holy Spirit, God expects the work of the Holy Spirit to be manifested in us.
The servant justified himself in everything he did and condemned his lord on every point — “Your demand is out of all proportion to what you give.” Have we been slandering God by daring to worry when He has said: “Seek ye first the Kingdom of God, and His righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you”? Worrying means exactly what this servant implied — “I know You mean to leave me in the lurch.” The person who is lazy naturally is always captious — “I haven’t had a decent chance,” and the one who is lazy spiritually is captious with God. Lazy people always strike out on an independent line.
Never forget that our capacity in spiritual matters is measured by the promises of God. Is God able to fulfil His promises? Our answer depends on whether we have received the Holy Spirit. (From My Utmost for His Highest Classic Edition)
Bible in One Year: 2 Samuel 9-11; Luke 15:11-32
2 Samuel 9:1
 David inquired, “Is there anyone still alive from the family of Sha’ul, to whom, for Y’honatan’s sake, I can show kindness?” 2 In Sha’ul’s household there had been a servant named Tziva, and they summoned him to David. The king asked him, “Are you Tziva?” and he answered, “At your service.” 3 The king said, “Is there anyone still alive from the family of Sha’ul, to whom I can show God’s grace?” Tziva said to the king, “There is still Y’honatan’s son with the lame legs.” 4 The king said to him, “Where is he?” and Tziva answered, “He’s there in the house of Makhir the son of ‘Ammi’el, in Lo-D’var.” 5 King David sent and took him from the house of Makhir the son of ‘Ammi’el in Lo-D’var. 6 M’fivoshet the son of Y’honatan, the son of Sha’ul, came to David, fell on his face and prostrated himself. David said, “M’fivoshet!” and he answered, “Here is your servant!” 7 David said to him, “Don’t be afraid, for I am determined to be kind to you for the sake of Y’honatan your father. I will restore to you all the land of Sha’ul your [grand]father, and you will always eat at my table.” 8 He prostrated himself and said, “What is your servant that makes you pay such attention to a dead dog like me?” 9 The king called to Tziva, Sha’ul’s servant, and said to him, “I have given everything Sha’ul and his family owned to your master’s [grand]son. 10 You are to work the land for him, you, your sons and your slaves. Harvest the crops, so that your master’s [grand]son will have food to feed his family; but M’fivoshet your master’s [grand]son will always eat at my table.” Tziva had fifteen sons and twenty slaves. 11 Tziva said to the king, “Your servant will do everything my lord the king commands his servant, although M’fivoshet has been eating at my table as one of the king’s descendants.” 12 M’fivoshet had a young son whose name was Mikha. Everyone living in Tziva’s house was a servant of M’fivoshet. 13 But M’fivoshet lived in Yerushalayim; he always ate at the king’s table, and he was lame in both legs.
10:1 Some time later, when the king of the people of ‘Amon died, his son Hanun became king in his place. 2 David said, “I will show grace to Hanun the son of Nachash, as his father showed grace to me.” So David sent his servants to pass him a message of comfort concerning his father.
David’s servants entered the territory of the people of ‘Amon; 3 but the leaders of the people of ‘Amon said to Hanun their lord, “Do you really think David is honoring your father by sending people to comfort you? Hasn’t David actually sent his servants to you in order to look the city over, reconnoiter it and overthrow it?” 4 So Hanun took David’s servants, shaved off half their beards, cut off their clothes halfway up, at their buttocks, and then sent them away. 5 On hearing how they had been treated, David sent a delegation to meet them, because the men had been deeply humiliated. The king said, “Stay in Yericho until your beards have grown back, and then return.”
6 Aware that they were utterly abhorrent to David, the people of ‘Amon sent and hired 20,000 Aram foot soldiers from Beit-Rechov and Tzovah, the king of Ma‘akhah with 1,000 men, and 12,000 soldiers from Tov. 7 When David heard of it, he sent Yo’av with his entire army of trained soldiers.
8 The army of ‘Amon came out and went into battle formation at the entrance to the city gate; the men of Aram from Tzovah and Rechov and the men of Tov and Ma‘akhah were by themselves in the open countryside. 9 When Yo’av saw that he would be fighting on two fronts, ahead and behind, he chose the best troops of Isra’el to deploy against Aram; 10 while the rest of the army he put under the command of Avishai his brother to deploy against the army of ‘Amon. 11 He said, “If Aram is too strong for me, you help me; but if the army of ‘Amon is too strong for you, then I will come and help you. 12 Take courage, and let’s be strong for the sake of our people and the cities of our God. May Adonai do what seems good to him.”
13 So Yo’av and the people with him went to battle Aram, and they fled before him. 14 When the people of ‘Amon saw that Aram had fled, they likewise fled before Avishai and retreated into the city. Yo’av returned from the people of ‘Amon and went to Yerushalayim.
15 When Aram saw that Isra’el had gotten the better of them, they gathered themselves together. 16 Hadad‘ezer sent and brought out the people of Aram who lived beyond the [Euphrates] River. They came to Heilam with Shovakh the commander of Hadad‘ezer’s army at their head. 17 It was reported to David; so he gathered all Isra’el together, crossed the Yarden and came to Heilam. Aram deployed themselves against David and fought him. 18 But Aram fled before Isra’el; David killed 700 chariot-drivers and 40,000 horsemen from Aram, and he struck Shovakh the commander of their army, so that he died there. 19 When all Hadad‘ezer’s vassal kings saw that they had been defeated by Isra’el, they made peace with Isra’el and became their subjects. So Aram was afraid to help the people of ‘Amon any more.
11:1 In the spring, at the time when kings go out to war, David sent out Yo’av, his servants who were with him and all Isra’el. They ravaged the people of ‘Amon and laid siege to Rabbah. But David stayed in Yerushalayim. 2 Once, after his afternoon nap, David got up from his bed and went strolling on the roof of the king’s palace. From the roof he saw a woman bathing, who was very beautiful. 3 David made inquiries about the woman and was told that she was Bat-Sheva the daughter of Eli‘am, the wife of Uriyah the Hitti. 4 David sent messengers to get her, and she came to him, and he went to bed with her (for she had been purified from her uncleanness). Then she returned to her house. 5 The woman conceived; and she sent a message to David, “I am pregnant.”
6 David sent this order to Yo’av: “Send me Uriyah the Hitti.” Yo’av sent Uriyah to David. 7 When Uriyah had come to him, David asked him how Yo’av was doing, how the people were feeling and how the war was going. 8 Then David said to Uriyah, “Go down to your house and wash your feet.” Uriyah left the king’s palace and was followed by a present of food from the king. 9 But Uriyah slept at the door of the king’s palace with all the servants of his lord and didn’t go down to his house. 10 When they told David, “Uriyah didn’t go down to his house,” David said to Uriyah, “Haven’t you just arrived from a journey? Why didn’t you go down to your house?” 11 Uriyah answered David, “The ark, Isra’el and Y’hudah stay in tents; and my lord Yo’av and the servants of my lord are camping in the countryside. So should I go into my house to eat and drink and go to bed with my wife? As surely as you live, I will not do such a thing!” 12 David said to Uriyah, “Stay here today also; tomorrow I will let you leave.” So Uriyah stayed in Yerushalayim that day and the following day. 13 David summoned him, ate and drank with him, and got him drunk. But in the evening he went out and lay on his bed with his lord’s servants and did not go down to his house.
14 In the morning David wrote a letter to Yo’av and sent it with Uriyah. 15 In the letter he wrote, “Put Uriyah on the front lines of the fiercest fighting; then pull back from him, so that he will be wounded and killed.” 16 So while Yo’av had the city under siege, he assigned Uriyah to the place where he knew the toughest defenders were. 17 The men of the city went out and fought Yo’av; a number of people fell, including some of David’s servants, with Uriyah the Hitti among the dead.
18 Yo’av sent a message to David reporting all the news concerning the war, 19 and he instructed the messenger, “When you have finished telling the king all the news about the war, 20 he may become angry and ask you, ‘Why did you get so close to the city to fight? Didn’t you know they would shoot from the wall? 21 Didn’t you think about the person who struck Avimelekh the son of Yerubeshet, that a woman threw an upper millstone down on him from the wall, so that he died at Tevetz? Why did you go so near the wall?’ If he says this, tell him, ‘Your servant Uriyah is dead also.’” 22 So the messenger left, and on arrival he told David all that Yo’av had sent him to say. 23 The messenger said to David, “The men were overpowering us and came out after us into the countryside. But we chased them back all the way to the entrance of the city gate. 24 The archers shot at your servants from the wall; some of the king’s servants are dead; also your servant Uriyah the Hitti is dead.” 25 David said to the messenger, “Tell Yo’av, ‘Don’t let this matter get you down — the sword devours in one way or another. Intensify your battle against the city, and overthrow it.’ And encourage him.”
26 When the wife of Uriyah heard that Uriyah her husband was dead, she mourned her husband. 27 When the mourning was over, David sent and took her home to his palace, and she became his wife and bore him a son.
Luke 15:11 Again Yeshua said, “A man had two sons. 12 The younger of them said to his father, ‘Father, give me the share of the estate that will be mine.’ So the father divided the property between them. 13 As soon as he could convert his share into cash, the younger son left home and went off to a distant country, where he squandered his money in reckless living. 14 But after he had spent it all, a severe famine arose throughout that country, and he began to feel the pinch.
15 “So he went and attached himself to one of the citizens of that country, who sent him into his fields to feed pigs. 16 He longed to fill his stomach with the carob pods the pigs were eating, but no one gave him any.
17 “At last he came to his senses and said, ‘Any number of my father’s hired workers have food to spare; and here I am, starving to death! 18 I’m going to get up and go back to my father and say to him, “Father, I have sinned against Heaven and against you; 19 I am no longer worthy to be called your son; treat me like one of your hired workers.” ’ 20 So he got up and started back to his father.
“But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was moved with pity. He ran and threw his arms around him and kissed him warmly. 21 His son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against Heaven and against you; I am no longer worthy to be called your son — ’ 22 but his father said to his slaves, ‘Quick, bring out a robe, the best one, and put it on him; and put a ring on his finger and shoes on his feet; 23 and bring the calf that has been fattened up, and kill it. Let’s eat and have a celebration! 24 For this son of mine was dead, but now he’s alive again! He was lost, but now he has been found!’ And they began celebrating.
25 “Now his older son was in the field. As he came close to the house, he heard music and dancing. 26 So he called one of the servants and asked, ‘What’s going on?’ 27 The servant told him, ‘Your brother has come back, and your father has slaughtered the calf that was fattened up, because he has gotten him back safe and sound.’ 28 But the older son became angry and refused to go inside.
“So his father came out and pleaded with him. 29 ‘Look,’ the son answered, ‘I have worked for you all these years, and I have never disobeyed your orders. But you have never even given me a young goat, so that I could celebrate with my friends. 30 Yet this son of yours comes, who squandered your property with prostitutes, and for him you slaughter the fattened calf!’ 31 ‘Son, you are always with me,’ said the father, ‘and everything I have is yours. 32 We had to celebrate and rejoice, because this brother of yours was dead but has come back to life — he was lost but has been found.’”
(Complete Jewish Bible).
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WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
The place for the comforter is not that of one who preaches, but of the comrade who says nothing, but prays to God about the matter. The biggest thing you can do for those who are suffering is not to talk platitudes, not to ask questions, but to get into contact with God, and the “greater works” will be done by prayer (see John 14:12–13)(John 14:12 Yes, indeed! I tell you that whoever trusts in me will also do the works I do! Indeed, he will do greater ones, because I am going to the Father. 13 In fact, whatever you ask for in my name, I will do; so that the Father may be glorified in the Son.). (from Baffled to Fight Better, 56 R)
My Utmost for His Highest © 1992 by Oswald Chambers Publications Association, Ltd. Original edition © 1935 by Dodd, Mead & Company, Inc. Copyright renewed 1963 by Oswald Chambers Publications Association, Ltd. All rights reserved. United States publication rights are held by Discovery House, which is affiliated with Our Daily Bread Ministries.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
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