Faithful endurance yields eternal fruit

Monday, February 20, 2017
Devotions: Ps 106, Ruth 1:1-14; 2 Cor 1:1-11; Mt 5:1-12

Let us praise YHWH, for He Is good; His steadfast love endures forever.  Blessed are they who observe justice and do what is righteous at all times.  Lord, remember me when You show favor to Your people; help me also when You deliver them.  Let me rejoice with those in Your nation; let me glory in Your heritage.  All we mortals have sinned--yet God has delivered His people from bondage in Egypt, through the sea's waters, through the wilderness.  We mortals have short memories, and are prone to rebellion and sin.  Those God delivered in the Exodus began almost immediately to complain and to test God; He gave them all they could desire, yet they were jealous of Moses and Aaron; while Moses was on the mountain of God, they persuaded Aaron to create a golden calf as an idol.  They exchanged the glory of God for a lifeless idol, the image of an ox that eats grass!  Moses interceded, and God relented from righteous wrath and destruction of all the people; but none who had transgressed lived to enter the land of promise--and only Caleb and Joshua. who trusted God to keep His promises to the people, completed that sojourn.  All others who began the journey despised the pleasant land and had no faith in God's promises--and so they perished in the wilderness.  Again and again, the people offended and disobeyed God, to their own hurt.  And God gave the people into the hands of enemies.  Many times He delivered them, but repeatedly, the Israelites were brought low through their iniquity.  Blessed be the one true God; let all peoples praise Him!

In the days of the Judges, a famine drove Elimelech, with his wife Naomi and sons Mahlon and Chilion, from the region of Bethlehem in Judah into the territory of Moab.  The family were Ephrathites.  Elimelech died, and the sons took Moabite wives, Orpah and Ruth.  After ten years, the sons also died, leaving Naomi and her daughters-in-law.  Word came to Naomi that the Lord had visited His people and provided sufficient food, so she undertook to return to the land of Judah.  Naomi urged the two Moabite widows to return to their mothers' homes.  At first, both remonstrated: 'We will return with you to your people.'  Naomi said again, 'Turn back, my daughters.  Why go with me?  I have no other sons to be your husbands.'  She concluded, 'It is exceedingly bitter to me for your sake, that the hand of YHWH has gone forth against me.'  They all cried together, and Orpah returned to her parents' home, as Naomi had counseled.  But Ruth clung to Naomi, and would not desert her.

Paul and Timothy wrote to the church of God in Corinth, and the saints throughout Achaia:  Grace and peace to you from God our Father and from the Lord Jesus the Messiah.  Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus the Messiah--He Is the Father of mercies and the God of all comfort, Who comforts us in all our afflictions, so that we also may comfort others similarly afflicted.  Just as we share abundantly in the Messiah's sufferings, so through the Messiah we also share in comfort from God!  If the apostles were afflicted, they affirmed, it was for the comfort and salvation of the Achaian believers--and to enable them to patiently endure the common sufferings of those who followed Jesus.  They affirmed unshaken confidence on behalf of the disciples: 'as you share in our sufferings, so you will share in our comfort.'  They recount the crushing afflictions they encountered in Asia--so severe they despaired of life itself; yet 'that was to make us rely not on ourselves, but on God Who raises the dead.' And God Who Is faithful will never fail those who trust in Him.  'You also must help us by prayer,' and answered prayer moves many to be thankful for God's blessings and mercy, to His glory!

In His proclamation on the mount, Jesus taught a multitude:  Blessed are the poor in spirit; theirs is the kingdom of heaven.  Blessed are those who mourn; they will be comforted.  Blessed are the meek; they will inherit the earth.  Blessed those who hunger and thirst for righteousness; they will be satisfied.  Blessed the merciful, who will obtain mercy.  Blessed the pure in heart; they shall see God.  Blessed are peacemakers; they will be called the sons and daughters of God.  Blessed those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake; the kingdom of heaven is theirs.  And blessed are all who are reviled, persecuted, and slandered on account of Jesus.  Let us rejoice in these circumstances, for we have a great reward in heaven--mortals persecuted God's prophets in the same ways.