Monday, May 22, 2017

My Utmost for His Highest for Tuesday, 23 May 2017 - "Careful Infidelity" by Oswald Chambers

My Utmost for His Highest for Tuesday, 23 May 2017 - "Careful Infidelity" by Oswald Chambers

My Utmost for His Highest
 
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"Careful Infidelity" by Oswald Chambers
Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body what ye shall put on. [Matthew 6:25]

Jesus sums up commonsense carefulness in a disciple as infidelity. If we have received the Spirit of God, He will press through and say — “Now where does God come in in this relationship, in this mapped-out holiday, in these new books?” He always presses the point until we learn to make Him our first consideration. Whenever we put other things first, there is confusion.
“Take no thought…” — don’t take the pressure of forethought upon yourself. It is not only wrong to worry, it is infidelity, because worrying means that we do not think that God can look after the practical details of our lives, and it is never any thing else that worries us. Have you ever noticed what Jesus said would choke the word He puts in? The devil? No, the cares of this world. It is the little worries always. I will not trust where I cannot see, that is where infidelity begins. The only cure for infidelity is obedience to the Spirit.
The great word of Jesus to His disciples is abandon.
Wisdom From Oswald Chambers
The Christian Church should not be a secret society of specialists, but a public manifestation of believers in Jesus.[Facing Reality, 34 R]


Bible in One Year: 1 Chronicles 19-21; John 8:1-27
1 Chronicles 19:1 Some time later, when Nachash the king of the people of ‘Amon died, his son became king in his place. 2 David said, “I will be kind to Hanun the son of Nachash, because his father showed grace to me.” So David sent messengers to comfort him about his father.David’s servants entered the territory of the people of ‘Amon to go to Hanun and comfort him; 3 but the leaders of the people of ‘Amon said to Hanun, “Do you really think David is honoring your father by sending people to comfort you? Haven’t his servants come to you in order to look the city over, overthrow it and reconnoiter the land?” 4 So Hanun took David’s servants, shaved them, cut off their clothes halfway up, at their hips, and then sent them away. 5 Some people reported to David how the men had been treated. He 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 had made themselves utterly abhorrent to David, Hanun and the people of ‘Amon sent thirty-three tons of silver to hire chariots and horsemen from Aram-Naharayim, Aram-Ma‘akhah and Tzovah. 7 They hired 32,000 chariots, as well as the king of Ma‘akhah with his people, who came and pitched their camp in front of Meidva. Then the people of ‘Amon assembled themselves from their cities and went out to fight. 8 When David heard of it, he sent Yo’av with his entire army of trained soldiers.
9 The army of ‘Amon came out and went into battle formation at the city gate, while the kings who had come were alone in the countryside. 10 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; 11 while the rest of the army he put under the command of Avishai his brother to deploy against the army of ‘Amon. 12 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 help you. 13 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.”
14 So Yo’av and the people with him went to engage Aram in battle, and they fled before him. 15 When the people of ‘Amon saw that Aram had fled, they likewise fled before Avishai his brother and retreated into the city. Then Yo’av went to Yerushalayim.
16 When Aram saw that Isra’el had gotten the better of them, they sent messengers and brought out the people of Aram who lived beyond the [Euphrates] River, with Shofakh the commander of Hadar‘ezer’s army at their head. 17 It was reported to David; so he gathered all Isra’el together and crossed the Yarden to engage them. David deployed his forces for battle against Aram; and after he had done so, fought them. 18 But Aram fled before Isra’el; David killed 7,000 chariot-drivers and 40,000 foot soldiers from Aram; and he killed Shofakh the commander of the army. 19 When all Hadar‘ezer’s servants saw that they had been defeated by Isra’el, they made peace with David and became his subjects; and Aram would no longer help the people of ‘Amon.
20:In the spring, at the time when kings go out to war, Yo’av led the army out in force and laid waste to the country of the people of ‘Amon; then he came and laid siege to Rabbah. But David stayed in Yerushalayim, while Yo’av attacked Rabbah and destroyed it. 2 David took the crown off Malkam’s head and found it to weigh sixty-six pounds, with its gold and precious stones; and it was placed on David’s head. He carried off great quantities of spoil from the city. 3 In addition, he brought out the people who were in it and set them to work with saws, iron harrows and axes. This is what he did to all the cities of the people of ‘Amon. Then David and all the people returned to Yerushalayim.
4 A while after this there was war at Gezer with the P’lishtim. Sibkhai the Hushati killed Sipai, one of the giants, and they were defeated. 5 There was more war with the P’lishtim; and Elchanan the son of Ya’ir killed Lachmi the brother of Golyat the Gitti, who had a spear with a shaft like a weaver’s beam. 6 There was again war at Gat, where there was a very tall man whose fingers and toes numbered twenty-four, six [fingers on each hand] and six [toes on each foot]; and he too was a son of the giant. 7 When he mocked Isra’el, Y’honatan the son of Shim‘a David’s brother killed him. 8 These were sons of the giant in Gat; they fell at the hands of David and his servants.
21:The Adversary [1 Chronicles 21:1 Hebrew: Satan] now rose up against Isra’el and incited David to take a census of Isra’el. 2 David said to Yo’av and the leaders of the people, “Go, take a census of Isra’el from Be’er-Sheva to Dan; then report to me, so that I can know how many of them there are.” 3 Yo’av said, “May Adonai make his people a hundred times as many as they are now! But, my lord the king, aren’t they all my lord’s servants in any case? Why does my lord the king require this? Why should he bring guilt upon Isra’el?” 4 Nevertheless, the king’s word prevailed against Yo’av. So Yo’av left and went through all Isra’el, after which he came to Yerushalayim.
5 Yo’av reported the results of the census to David: in Isra’el were 1,100,000 men who could handle a sword, while Y’hudah had 470,000 men who could handle a sword. 6 But he didn’t count Levi and Binyamin among them, because the king’s order was hateful to Yo’av.
7 God was displeased with this and therefore punished Isra’el. 8 David said to God, “I have greatly sinned by doing this. But now, please! Put aside your servant’s sin, for I have done a very foolish thing.” 9 Adonai spoke to Gad, David’s seer: 10 “Go and tell David that Adonai says, ‘I am offering you a choice of three punishments: choose one of them, and I will execute it against you.’” 11 Gad came to David and said to him, “Take your choice: 12 three years of famine; or three months of being swept away by your enemies, while your enemies’ sword overwhelms you; or three days of Adonai’s sword — plague in the land, with the angel of Adonai destroying everywhere in Isra’el’s territory. Now think about what answer I should give to the one who sent me.”
13 David said to Gad, “This is very hard for me. Let me fall into the hand of Adonai, because his mercies are very great, rather than have me fall into the hand of man.” 14 So Adonai sent a plague on Isra’el; 70,000 of the people of Isra’el died.
15 God also sent an angel to destroy Yerushalayim, but when he was about to carry out the destruction, Adonai saw it and changed his mind about causing such distress; so he said to the destroying angel, “Enough! Now withdraw your hand.” The angel of Adonai was standing at the threshing-floor of Ornan the Y’vusi. 16 David raised his eyes and saw the angel of Adonai standing between the earth and the sky, and in his hand was a drawn sword stretched out over Yerushalayim. Then David and the leaders, wearing sackcloth, fell on their faces. 17 David said to God, “Wasn’t it I who ordered the census of the people? Yes, I am the one who has sinned and done something very wicked. But these sheep, what have they done? Please! Let your hand be against me and my father’s family, but not against your people, striking them with this plague!”
18 Then the angel of Adonai ordered Gad to tell David to go and set up an altar to Adonai on the threshing-floor of Ornan the Y’vusi. 19 David went up at Gad’s word, spoken in Adonai’s name. 20 Ornan turned back and saw the angel, and his four sons who were with him hid themselves. As Ornan was threshing wheat, 21 David approached Ornan. When Ornan looked and saw David, he went out from the threshing-floor and prostrated himself before David with his face to the ground. 22 Then David said to Ornan, “Let me have the parcel with this threshing-floor, so that I can build on it an altar to Adonai — I will pay you its full value — so that the plague will be lifted from the people.” 23 Ornan said to David, “Take it for yourself, and let my lord the king do what seems good to him. I’m giving you the oxen for the burnt offerings, the threshing-sledges for firewood and the wheat for the grain offering — I’m giving it all.” 24 But King David said to Ornan, “No; I insist on buying it from you at the full price. I refuse to take what is yours for Adonai or offer a burnt offering that costs me nothing.” 25 So David bought the place from Ornan for 600 shekels of gold by weight [fifteen pounds]. 26 Then David built an altar to Adonai there and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings. He called on Adonai, who answered him from heaven by fire on the altar for burnt offerings. 27 Adonai gave an order to the angel, and he put his sword back in its sheath. 28 When David saw that Adonai had answered him at the threshing-floor of Ornan the Y’vusi, he sacrificed there. 29 For at that time the tabernacle of Adonai, which Moshe had made in the desert, together with the altar for burnt offerings, were in the high place at Giv‘on. 30 But David could not go into its presence to consult God, because the sword of the angel of Adonai had struck him with terror.
John 8:1 But Yeshua went to the Mount of Olives. 2 At daybreak, he appeared again in the Temple Court, where all the people gathered around him, and he sat down to teach them. 3 The Torah-teachers and the P’rushim brought in a woman who had been caught committing adultery and made her stand in the center of the group. 4 Then they said to him, “Rabbi, this woman was caught in the very act of committing adultery. 5 Now in our Torah, Moshe commanded that such a woman be stoned to death. What do you say about it?” 6 They said this to trap him, so that they might have ground for bringing charges against him; but Yeshua bent down and began writing in the dust with his finger. 7 When they kept questioning him, he straightened up and said to them, “The one of you who is without sin, let him be the first to throw a stone at her.” 8 Then he bent down and wrote in the dust again. 9 On hearing this, they began to leave, one by one, the older ones first, until he was left alone, with the woman still there. 10 Standing up, Yeshua said to her, “Where are they? Has no one condemned you?” 11 She said, “No one, sir.” Yeshua said, “Neither do I condemn you. Now go, and don’t sin any more.”
12 Yeshua spoke to them again: “I am the light of the world; whoever follows me will never walk in darkness but will have the light which gives life.” 13 So the P’rushim said to him, “Now you’re testifying on your own behalf; your testimony is not valid.” 14 Yeshua answered them, “Even if I do testify on my own behalf, my testimony is indeed valid; because I know where I came from and where I’m going; but you do not know where I came from or where I’m going. 15 You judge by merely human standards. As for me, I pass judgment on no one; 16 but if I were indeed to pass judgment, my judgment would be valid; because it is not I alone who judge, but I and the One who sent me. 17 And even in your Torah it is written that the testimony of two people is valid. 18 I myself testify on my own behalf, and so does the Father who sent me.”
19 They said to him, “Where is this ‘father’ of yours?” Yeshua answered, “You know neither me nor my Father; if you knew me, you would know my Father too.” 20 He said these things when he was teaching in the Temple treasury room; yet no one arrested him, because his time had not yet come.
21 Again he told them, “I am going away, and you will look for me, but you will die in your sin — where I am going, you cannot come.” 22 The Judeans said, “Is he going to commit suicide? Is that what he means when he says, ‘Where I am going, you cannot come’?” 23 Yeshua said to them, “You are from below, I am from above; you are of this world, I am not of this world. 24 This is why I said to you that you will die in your sins; for if you do not trust that I AM [who I say I am], you will die in your sins.”
25 At this, they said to him, “You? Who are you?” Yeshua answered, “Just what I’ve been telling you from the start. 26 There are many things I could say about you, and many judgments I could make. However, the One who sent me is true; so I say in the world only what I have heard from him.” 27 They did not understand that he was talking to them about the Father.

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My Utmost for His Highest
My Utmost for His Highest © 1927 in the U.K. by Oswald Chambers Publications Association, Ltd. © 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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