Begin Again Read online

  Also by Max Lucado

  Inspirational

  3:16

  A Gentle Thunder

  A Love Worth Giving

  And the Angels Were Silent

  Anxious for Nothing

  Because of Bethlehem

  Before Amen

  Come Thirsty

  Cure for the Common Life

  Facing Your Giants

  Fearless

  Glory Days

  God Came Near

  Grace

  Great Day Every Day

  He Chose the Nails

  He Still Moves Stones

  How Happiness Happens

  In the Eye of the Storm

  In the Grip of Grace

  It’s Not About Me

  Jesus

  Just Like Jesus

  Max on Life

  More to Your Story

  Next Door Savior

  No Wonder They Call

  Him the Savior

  On the Anvil

  Outlive Your Life

  Six Hours One Friday

  The Applause of Heaven

  The Great House of God

  Traveling Light

  Unshakable Hope

  When Christ Comes

  When God Whispers

  Your Name

  You Are Never Alone

  You’ll Get Through This

  Fiction

  Christmas Stories

  Miracle at the Higher

  Grounds Café

  The Christmas Candle

  Bibles (General Editor)

  The Lucado Encouraging

  Word Bible

  Children’s Daily

  Devotional Bible

  Grace for the Moment

  Daily Bible

  The Lucado Life

  Lessons Study Bible

  Children’s Books

  A Max Lucado

  Children’s Treasury

  Do You Know I

  Love You, God?

  God Always Keeps

  His Promises

  God Forgives Me,

  and I Forgive You

  God Listens When I Pray

  Grace for the Moment:

  365 Devotions for Kids

  Hermie, a Common

  Caterpillar

  I’m Not a Scaredy Cat

  Itsy Bitsy Christmas

  Just in Case You

  Ever Wonder

  Lucado Treasury of

  Bedtime Prayers

  One Hand, Two Hands

  Thank You, God,

  for Blessing Me

  Thank You, God,

  for Loving Me

  The Boy and the Ocean

  The Crippled Lamb

  The Oak Inside the Acorn

  The Tallest of Smalls

  You Are Mine

  You Are Special

  Young Adult Books

  3:16

  It’s Not About Me

  Make Every Day Count

  Wild Grace

  You Were Made to

  Make a Difference

  Gift Books

  Fear Not Promise Book

  For the Tough Times

  God Thinks You’re

  Wonderful

  Grace for the Moment

  Grace Happens Here

  Happy Today

  His Name Is Jesus

  Let the Journey Begin

  Live Loved

  Mocha with Max

  Safe in the Shepherd’s Arms

  This Is Love

  You Changed My Life

  To Jack and Deb Graham and O. S. and Susie Hawkins.

  The completion of this book coincides with the

  commemoration of fifty years of marriage and

  ministry for each of these wonderful couples.

  We celebrate their devotion to Jesus and each other.

  © 2020 Max Lucado

  All rights reserved. No portion of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means—electronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording, scanning, or other—except for brief quotations in critical reviews or articles, without the prior written permission of the publisher.

  Published in Nashville, Tennessee, by Thomas Nelson. Thomas Nelson is a registered trademark of HarperCollins Christian Publishing, Inc.

  Thomas Nelson titles may be purchased in bulk for educational, business, fund-raising, or sales promotional use. For information, please e-mail [email protected].

  Unless otherwise noted, Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.™ Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide. www.zondervan.com. The “NIV” and “New International Version” are trademarks registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office by Biblica, Inc.™

  Scripture quotations marked AMP are from the Amplified® Bible. Copyright © 1954, 1958, 1962, 1964, 1965, 1987 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. (www.Lockman.org)

  Scripture quotations marked ESV are from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®). Copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

  Scripture quotations marked GNT are from the Good News Translation in Today’s English Version—Second Edition. Copyright 1992 by American Bible Society. Used by permission.

  Scripture quotations marked THE MESSAGE are from The Message. Copyright © by Eugene H. Peterson 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2000, 2001, 2002. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc.

  Scripture quotations marked NASB are from the New American Standard Bible®. Copyright © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. (www.Lockman.org)

  Scripture quotations marked NCV are from the New Century Version®. © 2005 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

  Scripture quotations marked NEB are from the New English Bible. © Cambridge University Press and Oxford University Press 1961, 1970. All rights reserved.

  Scripture quotations marked NKJV are from the New King James Version®. © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

  Scripture quotations marked NLT are from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation. © 1996, 2004, 2007, 2013, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

  Scripture quotations marked NLV are from the New Life Version. © 1969 and 2003. Used by permission of Barbour Publishing, Inc., Uhrichsville, Ohio 44683. All rights reserved.

  Scripture quotations marked NRSV are from the New Revised Standard Version Bible. Copyright © 1989 National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

  Scripture quotations marked PHILLIPS are from THE NEW TESTAMENT IN MODERN ENGLISH, Revised Edition, © J. B. Phillips 1958, 1960, 1972. Used by permission of Macmillan Publishing Co., Inc.

  Scriptures marked TLB are from The Living Bible. Copyright © 1971. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

  Any Internet addresses, phone numbers, or company or product information printed in this book are offered as a resource and are not intended in any way to be or to imply an endorsement by Thomas Nelson, nor does Thomas Nelson vouch for the existence, content, or services of these sites, phone numbers, companies, or products beyond the life of this book.

  ISBN 978-1-4002-2649-8 (eBook)

  ISBN 978-1-4002-2647-4 (HC)

  ISBN 978-1-4002-2674-0 (IE)

  Epub Edition October 2020 9781400226498

  Library of Congress Control Number: 2020941582


  Printed in the United States of America

  2021222324LSC10987654321

  Information about External Hyperlinks in this ebook

  Please note that the footnotes and endnotes in this ebook may contain hyperlinks to external websites as part of bibliographic citations. These hyperlinks have not been activated by the publisher, who cannot verify the accuracy of these links beyond the date of publication

  Contents

  Cover

  Title Page

  Copyright

  Acknowledgments

  Introduction: Catch a Glimpse of New Possibilities

  PART 1: BELIEVE YOUR TRUSTWORTHY GOD 1. Trust Your Shepherd

  2. Give Your Fears to Your Father

  3. Seeing with Eyes Closed

  4. Don’t Give Up

  5. Follow the God Who Follows You

  PART 2: ENJOY GOD’S GOOD GIFTS 6. Accept the Gift of Himself

  7. Rely On the Holy Spirit

  8. Shelter in His Protection

  9. Settle Down Deep in His Love

  PART 3: GROUND YOURSELF IN HIS PROMISES 10. Hold On to Your Soul Anchor

  11. Choose Faith

  12. Let Your Father Fight for You

  13. Keep Believing God’s Promise

  PART 4: INFLUENCE YOUR WORLD 14. Be You

  15. Share What God Has Given

  16. Love Those in Need

  17. Make a Difference

  PART 5: NURTURE AN ETERNAL PERSPECTIVE 18. Reserve Judgment of Life’s Storms

  19. Chronicle What Christ Has Done

  20. Listen for the Song of the Whip-poor-will

  Epilogue: A Final Word

  Questions for Reflection Part 1

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Sources

  Notes

  Acknowledgments

  When I think about the people who made this book happen, I think about some of the finest people I have ever known. Joey Paul, Janene MacIvor, Karen Hill, Carol Bartley, Andrea Lucado, Greg and Susan Ligon, Steve and Cheryl Green, Mark Glesne, Erica Smith, Tim Paulson, and Don Jacobson. To each of you, thank you.

  Introduction

  Catch a Glimpse of New Possibilities

  Water. All Noah can see is water. The evening sun sinks into it. The clouds are reflected in it. His boat is surrounded by it. Water. Water to the north. Water to the south. Water to the east. Water to the west. Water.

  All Noah can see is water.

  He can’t remember when he’s seen anything but. The world has been destroyed. It was the end of everything he had known. He and the boys had barely pushed the last hippo up the ramp when heaven opened a thousand fire hydrants. Within moments the boat was rocking, and for days the rain was pouring, and for weeks Noah has been wondering, How long is this going to last? For forty days it has rained. For months they have floated. They have eaten the same food, smelled the same smells, and looked at the same faces. After a certain point you run out of things to say to each other. You even begin to run low on hope. Can God re-create this world? Is he able to start over? Can he, and we, begin again?

  Finally the boat bumped, and the rocking stopped. Mrs. Noah gave Mr. Noah a look, and Noah gave the hatch a shove and poked his head through. The hull of the ark was resting on ground, but the ground was still surrounded by water. “Noah,” she yelled up at him, “what do you see?”

  “Water.”

  He sent a raven on a scouting mission; it never returned. He sent a dove. It came back shivering and spent, having found no place to roost. Then, just this morning, he tried again. He pulled a dove out of the bowels of the ark and ascended the ladder. The morning sun caused them both to squint. As he kissed the breast of the bird, he felt a pounding heart. Had he put a hand on his chest, he would have felt another. With a prayer he let it go and watched until the bird was no bigger than a speck.

  All day he looked for the dove’s return. In between chores he opened the hatch and searched. The boys wanted him to play a little pin the tail on the donkey, but he passed. He chose instead to climb into the crow’s nest and look. The wind lifted his gray hair. The sun warmed his weather-beaten face. But nothing lifted his heavy heart. He had seen nothing. Not in the morning. Not after lunch. Not later.

  Now the sun is setting, and the sky is darkening, and he has come to look one final time, but all he sees is water. Water to the north. Water to the south. Water to the east. Water to the . . .

  You know the feeling. You have stood where Noah stood. You’ve known your share of floods. Flooded by sorrow at the cemetery, anger at the disability in your body, fear of the uncertainty of a pandemic. You’ve seen the floodwater rise, and you’ve likely seen the sun set on your hopes and dreams as well. You’ve been on Noah’s boat.

  And you’ve needed what Noah needed; you’ve needed hope. Hope doesn’t promise an instant solution but rather the possibility of an eventual one. Sometimes all we need is a little hope.

  That’s all Noah needed. And that’s what Noah received.

  The old sailor stares at the sun bisected by the horizon. One could hardly imagine a more beautiful sight. But he’d give this one and a hundred more for an acre of dry ground and a grove of grapes. Mrs. Noah’s voice reminds him that dinner is on the table and he should lock the hatch, and he’s just about to call it a day when he hears the cooing of the dove. This is how the Bible describes the moment: “When the dove returned to him in the evening, there in its beak was a freshly plucked olive leaf!” (Gen. 8:11).

  An olive leaf. Noah would have been happy to have the bird—but to have the leaf! This leaf was more than foliage; this was promise. The bird brought more than a piece of a tree; it brought hope. For isn’t that what hope is? Hope is an olive leaf—evidence of dry land after a flood. Proof to the dreamer that dreaming is worth the risk.

  Are you in need of some hope? Could you use a fresh start? A redo? A mulligan? At some point in life we all could. The oh-so-welcome news of Scripture is this: God is a God of fresh starts. He is the author of the new chapter, the architect of the new design, the voice behind the new song.

  God knows the way forward. No matter what kind of disappointment or grief or trouble or heartache you’ve encountered, God offers an opportunity to begin again. In his plan prodigals get a new robe, the weary find new strength, and the lonely find a friend.

  Those who wait on the LORD

  Shall renew their strength;

  They shall mount up with wings like eagles,

  They shall run and not be weary,

  They shall walk and not faint. (Isa. 40:31 NKJV)

  Your current circumstances will not get the final say in your life.

  To all the Noahs of the world, to all who search the horizon for a glimpse of hope, God proclaims, “Yes!” And he comes. He comes as a dove. He comes bearing fruit from a distant land, from our future home. He comes with a leaf of promise that he can make all things new.

  That is the theme of the book you hold, a combination of new thoughts and some favorite ones from prior books. The theme is simply this: Your hope can be restored. Your dreams can be renewed. By God’s grace you can find your way to dry land, watch the waters subside, and step out on fresh soil.

  With God as your guide, you can begin again.

  part one

  Believe Your Trustworthy God

  My dad decorated our den with a stump. I was just a kid at the time, eleven years old, maybe twelve. The perfect age to be fascinated with the idea of a tree stump sitting next to the fireplace.
>
  Over the fireplace, a clock.

  Next to the fireplace, fireplace tools.

  Next to the tools, a stump.

  Awesome.

  He came home from work with it one day. It took up the better portion of the bed of his pickup. That’s where it lay when I first saw it. Dad pulled it out of his truck and let it fall onto the concrete driveway.

  “What is it, Dad?”

  “It’s a tree stump,” he answered with no small amount of pride.

  Dad worked in the oil fields of West Texas. It was his job to make sure the pump machinery functioned smoothly. Apparently this tree trunk was interfering with his work. Quite honestly I don’t remember why it troubled him. Perhaps it blocked his access to an engine. Maybe it leaned too far across a dirt path. Whatever the reason, it kept him from doing his work in the way he wanted to do it. So he yanked it out of the ground. He wrapped one end of a chain around the trunk and the other end around his trailer hitch. The contest was over before it began.

  But dislodging the tree wasn’t enough for him; he wanted to display it. Some men hang antlers on their walls. Others fill a room with deer heads or a taxidermied bass. My dad opted to decorate our den with a tree trunk.

  Mom was less than enthused. As they stood on the driveway and exchanged animated opinions, I examined the bagged quarry. The trunk was as wide as my size twenty-nine waist. The bark had long since dried and was easy to peel away. Thumb-thick roots hung limp from the base. I’ve never considered myself to be a connoisseur of dead trees, but this much I knew: this trunk was a real beauty.

  Over the years I’ve often reflected on my dad’s decision to turn a trunk into decor, especially because I consider myself to be a tree trunk of my own making. When God found me, I was a fruitless stump with deep roots. I offered no beauty to the landscape of the world. No one found shade under my limbs. I even interfered with the work of the Father. Even so, he found a place for me. It required a good yank and no small amount of cleaning up, but he took me from badlands to his home and displayed me as a work of his own.