"What You Will Get" by Oswald Chambers - My Utmost for His Highest for Saturday, 28 April 2018 Daily Devotional
"What You Will Get" by Oswald Chambers
Thy life will I give thee for a prey in all places whither thou goest. (JEREMIAH 45:5)***
This is the unshakable secret of the Lord to those who trust Him — I will give thee thy life. What more does a man want than his life? It is the essential thing. “Thy life…for a prey” means that wherever you may go, even if it is into hell, you will come out with your life, nothing can harm it. So many of us are caught up in the shows of things, not in the way of property and possessions, but of blessings. All these have to go; but there is something grander that never can go — the life that is “hid with Christ in God.”
Are you prepared to let God take you into union with Himself, and pay no more attention to what you call the “great things”? Are you prepared to abandon entirely and let go? The test of abandonment is in refusing to say — “Well, what about this?” Beware of suppositions. Immediately you allow — “What about this?” it means you have not abandoned, you do not really trust God. Immediately you do abandon, you think no more about what God is going to do. Abandon means to refuse yourself the luxury of asking any questions. If you abandon entirely to God, He says at once, “Thy life will I give thee for a prey.” The reason people are tired of life is because God has not given them anything, they have not got their life as a prey. The way to get out of that state is to abandon to God. When you do get through to abandonment to God, you will be the most surprised and delighted creature on earth; God has got you absolutely and has given you your life. If you are not there, it is either because of disobedience or a refusal to be simple enough. (From My Utmost for His Highest Classic Edition}
Bible in One Year: 1 Kings 3-5; Luke 20:1-26
1 Kings 3:1 Shlomo formed an alliance with Pharaoh king of Egypt by marrying Pharaoh’s daughter. He brought her into the City of David, [where she lived] until he had finished building his own palace, the house of Adonai and the wall around Yerushalayim. 2 The people, however, were still sacrificing on the high places, because no house had yet been built for the name of Adonai. 3 Shlomo loved Adonai, living according to the regulations set forth by David his father; nevertheless, he sacrificed and made offerings on the high places.
4 One time the king went to Giv‘on to sacrifice there, because that was the main high place. Shlomo offered a thousand burnt offerings on the altar there. 5 At Giv‘on Adonai appeared to Shlomo in a dream at night; God said, “Tell me what I should give you.” 6 Shlomo said, “You showed your servant David my father much grace, as he lived before you honestly and righteously, having an upright heart with you. You preserved this great grace for him by giving him a son to sit on his throne, as is the case today. 7 So now, Adonai my God, you have made your servant king in the place of David my father; but I am a mere child — I don’t know how to lead! 8 Moreover your servant is among your people, whom you chose, a great people so numerous that they cannot be counted. 9 Therefore, give your servant an understanding heart able to administer justice to your people, so that I can discern between good and bad — for who is equal to judging this great people of yours?”
10 What Shlomo had said in making this request pleased Adonai. 11 God said to him, “Because you have made this request instead of asking long life or riches for yourself, or your enemies’ death, but rather asked for yourself understanding to discern justice; 12 I am doing what you requested. I am giving you a wise and understanding heart, so that there has never been anyone like you, nor will there ever again be anyone like you. 13 I am also giving you what you didn’t ask for, riches and honor greater than that of any other king throughout your life. 14 More than that, if you will live according to my ways, obeying my laws and mitzvot like your father David, I will give you a long life.”
15 Shlomo awoke and found it had been a dream. But he went to Yerushalayim, stood before the ark for the covenant of Adonai and offered up burnt offerings and peace offerings. He also made a feast for all his servants.
16 After this, there came to the king two women who were prostitutes. After presenting themselves to him, 17 one of the women said, “My lord, I and this woman live in the same house; and when she was in the house, I gave birth to a baby. 18 Three days after I gave birth, this woman also gave birth. We were there together; there was no one else with us in the house except the two of us. 19 During the night this woman’s child died, because she rolled over on top of it. 20 So she got up in the middle of the night and took my son from next to me, while your servant was sleeping, and put it in her arms; and she laid her dead child in my arms. 21 When I awoke in the morning to feed my child from my breast, there it was, dead. But when I took a closer look later in the morning, why, it wasn’t my son at all — not the one I gave birth to!” 22 The other woman broke in, “No! The living one is my son, and the dead one is your son!” The first one said, “No! The dead one is your son and the living one is my son!” This is how they spoke in the presence of the king.
23 Then the king said, “This woman says, ‘The living one is my son; your son is the dead one’; while the other says, ‘No, the dead one is your son, and the living one is my son.’ 24 Bring me a sword,” said the king. They brought a sword to the king. 25 The king said, “Cut the living child in two; give half to the one and half to the other.” 26 At this, the woman to whom the living child belonged addressed the king, because she felt so strongly toward her son: “Oh, my lord, give her the living child; you mustn’t kill it!” But the other one said, “It will be neither yours nor mine. Divide it up!” 27 Then the king answered, “Give the living child to the first woman, don’t kill it, because she is its mother.” 28 All Isra’el heard of the decision the king had made and held the king in awe, for they saw that God’s wisdom was in him, enabling him to render justice properly.
4:1 King Shlomo was king over all Isra’el, 2 and these were his high officials:
‘Azaryah the son of Tzadok, the cohen;
3 Elichoref and Achiyah the sons of Shisha, secretaries;
Y’hoshafat the son of Achilud, secretary of state;
4 B’nayah the son of Y’hoyada, commander of the army;
Tzadok and Evyatar, cohanim;
5 ‘Azaryah the son of Natan, chief administrator;
Zavud the son of Natan, the king’s trusted counselor;
6 Achishar, in charge of the palace;
Adoniram the son of ‘Avda, in charge of forced labor.
7 Shlomo had twelve officers over all Isra’el who were in charge of providing food and supplies for the king and his household; each one was in charge of provisions for one month out of the year. 8 They were:
the son of Hur, in the hills of Efrayim;
9 the son of Deker, in Makatz, Sha‘albim, Beit-Shemesh and Eilon-Beit-Hanan;
10 the son of Hesed, in Arubot; he also had charge of Sokhoh and all the territory of Hefer;
11 the son of Avinadav, in all the area of Dor; he had Tafat the daughter of Shlomo as his wife;
12 Ba‘ana the son of Achilud, in Ta‘anakh, Megiddo, and all Beit-Sh’an by Tzartan below Yizre‘el, from Beit-Sh’an to Avel-M’cholah, as far as beyond Yokme‘am;
13 the son of Gever, in Ramot-Gil‘ad; he was in charge of the villages of Ya’ir the son of M’nasheh in Gil‘ad and in charge of the region of Argov in Bashan, sixty large cities with walls and bronze bars;
14 Achinadav the son of ‘Iddo, in Machanayim;
15 Achima‘atz, in Naftali; he also took Basmat the daughter of Shlomo as his wife;
16 Ba‘ana the son of Hushai, in Asher and in Alot;
17 Y’hoshafat the son of Paruach, in Yissakhar;
18 Shim‘i the son of Ela, in Binyamin; and
19 Gever the son of Uri, in the land of Gil‘ad, the country of Sichon king of the Emori and ‘Og king of Bashan.
Over all these, there was one administrator in the land.
20 Y’hudah and Isra’el were as numerous as sand grains on the seashore; they ate, drank and enjoyed themselves.
5:1 (4:21) Shlomo ruled over all the kingdoms from the [Euphrates] River through the land of the P’lishtim to the border of Egypt; they paid tribute and served Shlomo as long as he lived. 2 (4:22) Shlomo’s provisions for one day consisted of 150 bushels of fine flour, 310 bushels of meal, 3 (4:23) ten fattened oxen, twenty pasture-fed oxen and one hundred sheep, in addition to deer, gazelles, roebucks and fattened poultry. 4 (4:24) For he ruled all the area this side of the [Euphrates] River, from Tifsach to ‘Azah. He was over all the kings on this side of the River; and he had peace all around him, on every side. 5 (4:25) From Dan to Be’er-Sheva, Y’hudah and Isra’el lived securely, every man under his vine and fig tree, throughout the lifetime of Shlomo. 6 (4:26) Shlomo also had 40,000 stalls for the horses used with his chariots and 12,000 horsemen.
7 (4:27) Those officers [named above] supplied food and other materials for King Shlomo and for everyone for whom Shlomo provided. Each was responsible for his month’s supplies; they saw to it that nothing was lacking. 8 (4:28) They also made sure there was barley and straw where it was needed for the horses and draft animals; each filled his quota.
9 (4:29) God gave Shlomo exceptional wisdom and understanding, as well as a heart as vast as the sandy beach by the sea. 10 (4:30) Shlomo’s wisdom surpassed the wisdom of the people from the east and all the wisdom of Egypt. 11 (4:31) For he was wiser than everyone — wiser than Eitan the Ezrachi and wiser than Heiman, Kalkol and Darda the sons of Machol; so that his fame spread to all the surrounding nations. 12 (4:32) He composed 3,000 proverbs and 1,005 songs. 13 (4:33) He could discuss trees, from the cedar in the L’vanon to the hyssop growing out of the wall; he could discuss wild animals, poultry, reptiles and fish. 14 (4:34) People from all nations came to hear the wisdom of Shlomo, including kings from all over the earth who had heard of his wisdom.
15 (1) Hiram king of Tzor sent his servants to Shlomo, because he had heard that they had anointed him king in his father’s place, and Hiram had always loved David. 16 (2) Shlomo returned this message to Hiram: 17 (3) “You know that David my father wasn’t able to build a house for the name of Adonai his God, because of the wars that beset him from every side, until Adonai put his enemies under the soles of my feet. 18 (4) But now Adonai my God has given me rest on every side; there is neither adversary nor calamity. 19 (5) So now I intend to build a house for the name of Adonai my God, in keeping with what Adonai said to David my father, ‘Your son, whom I will put on your throne in your place, will be the one to build the house for my name.’ 20 (6) Therefore, order your people to cut down cedar trees from the L’vanon for me. My servants will be with your servants. I will pay your servants according to everything you say; for you know that we have no one among us as skilled in felling trees as the Tzidonim.”
21 (7) When Hiram heard Shlomo’s message, he was very happy and said, “Blessed be Adonai today, who has given David a wise son to rule this great people.” 22 (8) Then Hiram sent Shlomo this message: “I have heard the message you sent me, and I will do everything you want concerning cedar logs and cypress logs. 23 (9) My servants will bring them down from the L’vanon to the sea. I will make them into rafts to go by sea to whatever place you tell me and will have them broken up there, and you will receive them. You will compensate me by providing food for my household.”
24 (10) So Hiram gave Shlomo all the cedar logs and cypress logs he wanted; 25 (11) and Shlomo gave Hiram 100,000 bushels of wheat as food for his household and a thousand gallons of oil from pressed olives — this is what Shlomo gave Hiram each year. 26 (12) Adonai gave Shlomo wisdom, as he had promised him; and there was peace between Hiram and Shlomo — the two of them formed an alliance together.
27 (13) King Shlomo conscripted 30,000 men from all Isra’el for forced labor. 28 (14) He sent them to the L’vanon in monthly relays of 10,000; they would stay a month in the L’vanon and two months at home. Adoniram was in charge of the forced labor.
29 (15) Shlomo had 70,000 men to carry loads and another 80,000 stonecutters in the hills, 30 (16) besides Shlomo’s 3,300 supervisors who were in charge of the people doing the work. 31 (17) The king gave orders; and they quarried large stones, expensive stones, to lay the foundation of the house with cut stone. 32 (18) Shlomo’s and Hiram’s builders, along with the men from G’val, worked the stones and prepared the timber and stones for building the house.
Luke 20:1 One day, as Yeshua was teaching the people at the Temple, making known the Good News, the head cohanim and the Torah-teachers, along with the elders, came up to him 2 and said, “Tell us, what s’mikhah do you have that authorizes you to do these things? Who gave you this s’mikhah?” 3 He answered, “I too will ask you a question. Tell me, 4 the immersion of Yochanan — was it from Heaven or from a human source?” 5 They discussed it among themselves, saying, “If we say, ‘From Heaven,’ he will say, ‘Then why didn’t you believe him?’ 6 But if we say, ‘From a human source,’ all the people will stone us, because they’re convinced that Yochanan was a prophet.” 7 So they answered, “We don’t know where it came from.” 8 Yeshua said to them, “Then I won’t tell you by what s’mikhah I do these things.”
9 Next Yeshua told the people this parable: “A man planted a vineyard, rented it to tenant-farmers and went away for a long time. 10 When the time came, he sent a servant to the tenants to receive his share of the crop from the vineyard; but the tenants beat him up and sent him away empty-handed. 11 He sent another servant; they beat him too, insulted him and sent him away empty-handed. 12 He sent yet a third; this one they wounded and threw out.
13 “Then the owner of the vineyard said, ‘What am I to do? I will send my son, whom I love; maybe they will respect him.’ 14 But when the tenants saw him, they discussed it among themselves and said, ‘This is the heir; let’s kill him, so that the inheritance will be ours!’ 15 And they threw him out of the vineyard and killed him.
“Now what will the owner of the vineyard do to them? 16 He will come and put an end to those tenants and give the vineyard to others!” When the people heard this, they said, “Heaven forbid!” 17 But Yeshua looked searchingly at them and said, “Then what is this which is written in the Tanakh,
‘The very rock which the builders rejected
has become the cornerstone’?[Luke 20:17 Psalm 118:22]
18 Whoever falls on that stone will be broken in pieces; but if it falls on him, he will be crushed to powder!”
19 The Torah-teachers and the head cohanim would have seized him at that very moment, because they knew that he had aimed this parable at them, but they were afraid of the people.
20 So they kept a close watch on the situation. They sent spies who hypocritically represented themselves as righteous, so that they might seize hold of something Yeshua said, as an excuse to hand him over to the jurisdiction and authority of the governor. 21 They put to him this sh’eilah: “Rabbi, we know that you speak and teach straightforwardly, showing no partiality but really teaching what God’s way is. 22 Does Torah permit us to pay taxes to the Roman Emperor or not?” 23 But he, spotting their craftiness, said to them, 24 “Show me a denarius! Whose name and picture does it have?” “The Emperor’s,” they replied. 25 “Then,” he said to them, “give the Emperor what belongs to the Emperor. And give God what belongs to God!” 26 They were unable to trap him by anything he said publicly; indeed, amazed at his answer, they fell silent. (Complete Jewish Bible).
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WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
Our danger is to water down God’s word to suit ourselves. God never fits His word to suit me; He fits me to suit His word. (from Not Knowing Whither, 901 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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