thoughts by Max Lucado Archives - Page 4 of 42

Published July 1, 2023

God’s Ways are Right

“When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and through the rivers, they will not overflow you.” Isaiah 43:2-3 (NASB )

God knows what is best.

No struggle will come your way apart from his purpose, presence, and permission. What encouragement this brings! You are never the victim of nature or the prey of fate. Chance is eliminated. You are more than a weather vane whipped about by the winds of fortune. Would God truly abandon you to the whims of drug-crazed thieves, greedy corporate raiders, or evil leaders? Perish the thought!

We live beneath the protective palm of a sovereign King who superintends every circumstance of our lives and delights in doing us good.

Nothing comes your way that has not first passed through the filter of his love.

By Max Lucado
Used by Permission
From: Everyday Blessings

To learn more about Max Lucado visit his website at:
http://maxlucado.com/about/

God is at Work in Us

Howard Rutledge came to appreciate his time as a POW in Vietnam. He wrote:

“After twenty-eight days of torture, I could remember I had children but not how many. I prayed for strength. During long periods of enforced reflection, it became so much easier to separate the important from the trivial. My hunger for spiritual food soon outdid my hunger for steak.

It took prison to show me how empty life is without God.”

God is at work in each of us, whether we want it or not. He takes no pleasure in making life hard. Philippians 1:6 says,

“He does not relish in our sufferings, but He delights in our development.”

No one said the road would be painless or easy. But God will use this mess for something good. God is doing what is best for us, training us to live His holy best. Rest in this assurance…you will get through this!

By Max Lucado
From: You’ll Get Through This
Used by Permission

To learn more about Max Lucado visit his website at:
http://maxlucado.com/about/

Untying Knots

Most of us had a hard time learning to tie our shoes.

And, oh the advice. Everyone had a different approach. Can’t anyone agree? On only one thing. You need to know how!

My friend Roy used to sit on a park bench each morning. One day he noticed a little fellow struggling to board the bus. He was leaning down, frantically trying to disentangle a knotted shoestring. He grew more anxious by the moment—eyes darting back and forth between the shoe and the ride. All of a sudden the door closed. The boy fell back and sighed. That’s when he saw Roy. With tear-filled eyes he asked,

“Do you untie knots?”

Jesus loves that request.

Life gets tangled.

People mess up.

You never outgrow the urge to look up and say, “Help!”

Look who shows up. Jesus, our next door Savior.

“Do you untie knots?” He answers emphatically, “Yes!”

by Max Lucado
Used by permission

To learn more about Max Lucado visit his website at:
http://maxlucado.com/about/

When the Storm Doesn’t Stop

Jeremiah was depressed, as gloomy as a giraffe with a neck ache. Jerusalem was under siege, his nation under duress. His world collapsed like a sand castle in a typhoon. He faulted God for his horrible emotional distress. He also blamed God for his physical ailments.

“[God] has made my flesh and my skin waste away, and broken my bones” (Lamentations 3:4 RSV).

His body ached. His heart was sick. His faith was puny … He realized how fast he was sinking, so he shifted his gaze.

“But this I call to mind, and therefore I have hope: The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases, his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is thy faithfulness. ‘The Lord is my portion,’ says my soul, ‘therefore I will hope in him'” (vv. 21–24 RSV).

“But this I call to mind ...” Depressed, Jeremiah altered his thoughts, shifted his attention. He turned his eyes away from his stormy world and looked into the wonder of God. He quickly recited a quintet of promises. (I can envision him tapping these out on the five fingers of his hand.)

1. The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases.

2. His mercies never come to an end.

3. They are new every morning.

4. Great is thy faithfulness.

5. The Lord is my portion.

The storm didn’t cease, but his discouragement did.

By Max Lucado
Used by permission
From: An Encouraging Word

To learn more about Max Lucado visit his website at:
http://maxlucado.com/about/

Like Sheep

Isaiah 53:6 says, “We have all wandered away like sheep; each of us has gone his own way.”

You wouldn’t think sheep would be obstinate. Of all God’s animals, the sheep is the least able to take care of himself. Sheep are dumb. Have you ever met a sheep trainer? Ever seen sheep tricks? Know anyone who has taught his sheep to roll over? No, sheep are just too dumb.

When David said in Psalm 23, “The Lord is my Shepherd,” couldn’t he have come up with a better metaphor than a shepherd for sheep? When David, who was a warrior and ambassador for God, searched for an illustration of God he remembered his days as a shepherd. He remembered how he lavished attention on the sheep, how he watched over them. And David rejoiced to say, “The Lord is my Shepherd.” And in doing so he proudly declared, “I am his sheep!”

By Max Lucado
Used by Permission

To learn more about Max Lucado visit his website at:
https://maxlucado.com/about-max/

Bold Love

The love of a mother for her child . . . is there a love any deeper?

The love of God for His children . . . is there a love any bolder?

Woven through scripture, like the ribbons on a newborn’s quilt, are gentle

reminders that God’s love is like that of a mother: deep, unrelenting, bold.

“As a mother comforts her child, so will I comfort you . . .” (Isaiah 66:13).

“Can a mother forget the baby at her breast and have no compassion on the child she has borne?
Though she may forget, I will not forget you! See, I have engraved you on the palms of my hands . .”
(Isaiah 49:15-16).

“But we were very gentle with you, like a mother caring for her little children . . .”
(1 Thessalonians. 2:7)

HAVE A BLESSED MOTHER’S DAY!

By Max Lucado
Used by permission

To learn more about Max Lucado visit his website at:
http://maxlucado.com/about/

God’s Loving Pursuit

“Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life.” ~ Psalm 23:6

Dare we envision a God who follows us? Who pursues us? Who chases us? Who tracks us down and wins us over? Who follows us with “goodness and mercy” all the days of our lives?

Isn’t this the kind of God described in the Bible? A God who follows us?

Moses can tell you about it. He was forty years in the desert when he looked over his shoulder and saw a bush blazing. God had followed him into the wilderness.

Jonah can tell you about it. He was a fugitive on a boat when he looked over his shoulder and saw clouds brewing. God had followed him onto the ocean.

The disciples of Jesus knew the feeling of being followed by God. They were rain soaked and shivering when they looked over their shoulders and saw Jesus walking toward them. God had followed them into the storm.

John the Apostle was banished on Patmos when he looked over his shoulder and saw the skies begin to open. God had followed him into his exile.

Lazarus was three days dead in a sealed tomb when he heard a voice, lifted his head, and looked over his shoulder and saw Jesus standing. God had followed him into death.

Peter had denied his Lord and gone back to fishing when he heard his name and looked over his shoulder and saw Jesus cooking breakfast. God had followed him in spite of his failure.

God is the God who follows. I wonder… have you sensed him following you? We often miss him.

Through the kindness of a stranger. The majesty of a sunset. The mystery of romance. Through the question of a child or the commitment of a spouse. Through a word well spoken or a touch well timed, have you sensed his presence?

His goodness and mercy will follow us all the days of our lives.

By Max Lucado
From “Travelling Light

To learn more about Max Lucado visit his website at:
https://maxlucado.com/about-max/

A Prayer for Troubled Times

Dear Lord, Do it again

We’re still hoping we’ll wake up. We’re still hoping we’ll open a sleepy eye and think, What a horrible dream. How could this have happened?

We are sad, Father. And so we come to you. We don’t ask you for help; we beg you for it. We don’t request; we implore. We know what you can do. We’ve read the accounts. We’ve pondered the stories, and now we plead, “Do it again, Lord. Do it again.”

Remember Joseph? You rescued him from the pit. You can do the same for us. Do it again, Lord. Remember the Hebrews in Egypt? You protected their children from the angel of death. We have children too, Lord. Do it again.

And Sarah? Remember her prayers? You heard them. Joshua? Remember his fears? You inspired him. The women at the tomb? You resurrected their hope. The doubts of Thomas? You took them away. Do it again, Lord. Do it again.

You changed Daniel from a captive into a king’s counselor. You took Peter the fisherman and made him Peter an apostle. Because of you, David went from leading sheep to leading armies. Do it again, Lord, for we need counselors today. We need apostles. We need leaders. Do it again, dear Lord.

Most of all, do again what you did at Calvary. What we saw in this tragedy, you saw there on that Friday. Innocence ended. Goodness suffering. Mothers weeping. Evil dancing. Just as the shadows fell on our children, the darkness fell on your Son. Just as our world has been shattered, the very child of Eternity was pierced.

And by dusk, heaven’s sweetest song was silent, buried behind a rock. But you did not waver, O Lord. You did not waver. After your Son lay three days in a dark hole, you rolled the rock and rumbled the earth and turned the darkest Friday into the brightest Sunday.
Do it again, Lord. Turn this Calvary into an Easter.

Thank you for these hours of prayer. Let your mercy be upon all who suffer. Grant to those who lead us wisdom beyond their years and experience. Have mercy upon the souls who have departed and the wounded who remain. Give us grace that we might forgive and faith that we might believe.

And look kindly upon your church. For two thousand years you’ve used her to heal a hurting world. Do it again, Lord. Do it again.
Through Christ, amen.*

By Max Lucado
Used by Permission

To learn more about Max Lucado visit his website at:
https://maxlucado.com/about-max/

Eternal Happiness

“God has planted eternity in the hearts of men.” Ecclesiastes 3:10, TLB

You will never be completely happy on earth, simply because you were not made for earth. Oh, you will have your moments of joy. You will catch glimpses of light. You will know moments or even days of peace. But they simply do not compare with the happiness that lies ahead.

By Max Lucado
From: Everyday Blessings

To learn more about Max Lucado visit his website at:
http://www.maxlucado.com/info/view/about_max_lucado/

My Grace is Sufficient

Paul wrote, “There was given me a thorn in my flesh, from Satan, to torment me. Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. But he said, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness‘” (2 Corinthians 12:7-9).

The cancer in the body. The sorrow in the heart. The child in the rehab center. The craving for whiskey in the middle of the day. The tears in the middle of the night. The thorn in the flesh. “Take it away!” you’ve pleaded. Not once, twice, or even three times. You’ve out-prayed the apostle Paul, and you’re about to hit the wall. But what you hear Jesus say is this: “My grace is sufficient for you.”

Sustaining grace. Grace that meets us at our point of need and equips us with courage and wisdom and strength. Sustaining grace. It doesn’t promise the absence of struggle, but it does promise the presence of God.

By Max Lucado
Used by Permission

To learn more about Max Lucado visit his website at:
https://maxlucado.com/about-max/

thoughts by Max Lucado Thoughts by Men

Hope Restored Along the Way

Published April 22, 2023

Hope Restored Along the Way

What would it take to restore your hope?

What would you need to re-energize your journey?

Though the answers are abundant, three come quickly to mind.

The first would be a person. Not just any person. You don’t need someone equally confused. You need someone who knows the way out.

And from him you need some vision. You need someone to lift your spirits. You need someone to look you in the face and say, ’this isn’t the end. Don’t give up. There is a better place than this. And I’ll lead you there.’

And, perhaps most important, you need direction. If you have only a person but no renewed vision, all you have is company. If he has a vision but no direction, you have a dreamer for company. But if you have a person with direction “who can take you from this place to the right place” ah, then you have one who can restore your hope.

Or, to use Davids words, “He restores my soul.” (Psalm 23) Our Shepherd majors in restoring hope to the soul. Whether you are a lamb lost on a craggy ledge or a city slicker alone in a deep jungle, everything changes when your rescuer appears.
Your loneliness diminishes, because you have fellowship.

Your despair decreases, because you have vision.

Your confusion begins to lift, because you have direction.

Please note: You haven’t left the jungle. The trees still eclipse the sky, and the thorns still cut the skin. Animals lurk and rodents scurry. The jungle is still a jungle. It hasn’t changed, but you have. You have changed because you have hope. And you have hope because you have met someone who can lead you out.

Your Shepherd knows that you were not made for this place. He knows you are not equipped for this place. So he has come to guide you out.

‘They Lord is my Shepherd I shall not want.” (Psalm 23)

By Max Lucado
Used by permission
Journey Begin: God’s Road map for New Beginnings

To learn more about Max Lucado visit his website at:
http://maxlucado.com/about/

Meet Your Fears with Faith

“…and teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” Matthew 28:20

When ancient sailors sketched maps of the oceans, they disclosed their fears. On the vast unexplored waters, geographers wrote words such as these: “Here be dragons.” “Here be demons.” “Here be sirens.”

Were a map drawn of your world, would we read such phrases? Over the unknown waters of adulthood: “Here be dragons.” Near the sea of the empty nest: “Here be demons.” Next to the furthermost latitudes of death and eternity, do we read “Here be sirens”?

Mark it down. You will never go where God is not. You may be transferred, enlisted, commissioned, reassigned, hospitalized, but brand this truth on your heart: you can never go where God is not. “I am with you always,” Jesus promised (Matthew 28:20 NKJV). Fear visits everyone. But make your fear a visitor and not a resident. Meet your fears with faith.

By Max Lucado
Used by Permission

To learn more about Max Lucado visit his website at:
https://maxlucado.com/about-max/

The Suffering of His Broken Heart

Question: How does Jesus’ own suffering encourage you in times you suffer?

Go with me for a moment to witness what was perhaps the foggiest night in history. The scene is very simple; you’ll recognize it quickly. A grove of twisted olive trees. Ground cluttered with large rocks. A low stone fence. A dark, dark night.

Now, look into the picture. Look closely through the shadowy foliage. See that person? See that solitary figure? What’s he doing? Flat on the ground. Face stained with dirt and tears. Fists pounding the hard earth. Eyes wide with a stupor of fear. Hair matted with salty sweat. Is that blood on his forehead?

That’s Jesus. Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane.

Maybe you’ve seen the classic portrait of Christ in the garden. Kneeling beside a big rock. Snow-white robe. Hands peacefully folded in prayer. A look of serenity on his face. Halo over his head. A spotlight from heaven illuminating his golden-brown hair.

Now, I’m no artist, but I can tell you one thing. The man who painted that picture didn’t use the gospel of Mark as a pattern. When Mark wrote about that painful night, he used phrases like these: “Horror and dismay came over him.” “My heart is ready to break with grief.” “He went a little forward and threw himself on the ground.”

Does this look like the picture of a saintly Jesus resting in the palm of God? Hardly. Mark used black paint to describe this scene. We see an agonizing, straining, and struggling Jesus. We see a “man of sorrows.” (Isaiah 53:3 NASB) We see a man struggling with fear, wrestling with commitments, and yearning for relief.

We see Jesus in the fog of a broken heart.

The writer of Hebrews would later pen,

“During the days of Jesus’ life on earth, he offered up prayers and petitions with loud cries and tears to the one who could save him from death.” (Hebrews 5:7 NIV)

My, what a portrait! Jesus is in pain. Jesus is on the stage of fear. Jesus is cloaked, not in sainthood, but in humanity.

The next time the fog finds you, you might do well to remember Jesus in the garden. The next time you think that no one understands, reread the fourteenth chapter of Mark. The next time your self-pity convinces you that no one cares, pay a visit to Gethsemane. And the next time you wonder if God really perceives the pain that prevails on this dusty planet, listen to him pleading among the twisted trees.

The next time you are called to suffer, pay attention. It may be the closest you’ll ever get to God. Watch closely. It could very well be that the hand that extends itself to lead you out of the fog is a pierced one.

Question: How does Jesus’ own suffering encourage you in times you suffer?

By Max Lucado
Used by permission

To learn more about Max Lucado visit his website at:
http://maxlucado.com/about/

Original image from https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/736x/c2/46/bb/c246bbbce203df476766b7031810f8a6.jpg

Let Your Gentleness Be Evident to All

How many disasters have been averted because one person refused to buckle under the strain? It’s this kind of composure Paul is summoning when he says, “Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. Do not be anxious about anything” (Philippians 4:5-6).

The Greek word translated here as “gentleness” describes a temperament that’s seasoned and mature. It envisions an attitude fitting to the occasion, levelheaded and tempered. This gentleness is “evident to all.” Family members take note. Your friends sense a difference. Coworkers benefit from it.

The gentle person is sober minded and clear thinking. The contagiously calm person is the one who reminds others, “God is in control.” Pursue this gentleness. The Lord is near—you are not alone. You may feel alone. You may think you’re alone. But there is never a moment in which you face life without help. God is near—be anxious for nothing!

By Max Lucado
Used by Permission
From: Anxious for Nothing: Finding Calm in a Chaotic World

To learn more about Max Lucado visit his website at: https://maxlucado.com/about-max/

A Heavenly Affirmation

Each of us has a fantasy that our family will be like the Walton’s, an expectation that our dearest friends will be our next of kin. Jesus didn’t have that expectation. Look how he defined his family:

“My true brother and sister and mother are those who do what God wants.” (Mark 3:35).

When Jesus brothers didn’t share his convictions, he didn’t try to force them. He recognized that his spiritual family could provide what his physical family didn’t. If Jesus himself couldn’t force his family to share his convictions, what makes you think you can force yours?

We can’t control the way our family responds to us. When it comes to the behavior of others toward us, our hands are tied. We have to move beyond the naive expectation that if we do good, people will treat us right. The fact is they may and they may not – we cannot control how people respond to us.

I can’t assure you that your family will ever give you the blessing you seek, but I know God will. Let God give you what your family doesn’t. If your earthly father doesn’t affirm you, then let your heavenly Father take his place.

God has proven himself as a faithful father. Now it falls to us to be trusting children. Let God give you what your family doesn’t. Let him fill the void others have left. Rely upon him for your affirmation and encouragement. Look at Paul’s words:

You are God’s child, and God will give you the blessing he promised, because you are his child.” Galatians 4:7, (emphasis added).

[And] don’t lose heart. God still changes families.

Max Lucado
From: He Still Moves Stones
Used by permission

To learn more about Max Lucado visit his website at:
http://maxlucado.com/about/

Category: <span>thoughts by Max Lucado</span>

God knows what is best.

Further Reading

It took prison to show me how empty life is without God.”

Further Reading

Most of us had a hard time learning to tie our shoes.

Jesus loves that request.

“Do you untie knots?” He answers emphatically, “Yes!”

Further Reading

Further Reading

Isaiah 53:6 says, “We have all wandered away like sheep; each of us has gone his own way.”

Further Reading

The love of a mother for her child . . . is there a love any deeper?

HAVE A BLESSED MOTHER’S DAY!

FURTHER READING

“Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life.” ~ Psalm 23:6

His goodness and mercy will follow us all the days of our lives.

Further Reading

Further Reading

“God has planted eternity in the hearts of men.” Ecclesiastes 3:10, TLB

Further Reading

What would it take to restore your hope?

‘They Lord is my Shepherd I shall not want.” (Psalm 23)

Further Reading

Further Reading

Question: How does Jesus’ own suffering encourage you in times you suffer?

Further Reading

Further Reading

“My true brother and sister and mother are those who do what God wants.” (Mark 3:35).

[And] don’t lose heart. God still changes families.

Further Reading