Human 'wisdom' or God's holy love?

Monday, May 8, 2017 - Devotions: Ps 41, 44, 52; Wisdom 1:16-2:11, 21-24; Col 1:1-15; Lk 6:1-11

Blessed are those who consider the poor; YHWH delivers them in their days of trouble; He protects and preserves their lives.  They are called blessed, and are not surrendered to the will of their enemies.  My enemies seek my demise, but God has sustained me.  I know God is pleased with me by this token:  my enemy has not triumphed over me, and I still live.  You, Lord, have upheld me by Your grace and have set me in Your presence forever.  Blessed is YHWH, God of Israel, from everlasting to everlasting!  Amen and amen.  Lord, we have heard of Your deeds in our time, and have been told by our ancestors how You acted in their times.  You drove out nations to make space for Your people, because You delighted in them.  You are my King and my God; by Your grace, we defeat our enemies; You have put them to confusion who hate us.  And still, we struggle.  We will not forget You, nor depart from Your ways, Lord.  Don't cast us off forever; deliver us, for the sake of Your steadfast love.  God breaks down the wicked; but I am like a green olive tree in God's courtyards; I trust in His steadfast love forever.  God, I will proclaim Your holy Name and Your praises, everywhere and always.  I trust in God with no fear.  He keeps my tears in a bottle, and sustains me.  Thus I know that God is for me, that I may walk before God in the light of  life abundant and eternal.  

Righteousness is immortal, but by their words and deeds, ungodly people summon death, befriended death and made covenant with death: they are fit for death's party!  They tell themselves, 'Our life is short and sorrowful; there is no remedy for death; no one has returned from Hades.  We were born by mere chance, and after we die, it'll be as if we had never existed.  The breath in our nostrils is like smoke; reason is a spark kindled by our heartbeats.  When it goes out, the body turns to ashes and the spirit dissolves like empty air.  Our names will be forgotten in time; no one will remember our works; our life will pass away like traces of a cloud and be scattered like mist dissolved by sunlight, evaporated by its heat.  Our allotted time is the passing of a shadow, and death seals us up forever; there is no return.  So let's enjoy the good things at hand now; let us use the creation to the full, as in youth.  Let's drink deep of costly wine, and lavish perfume; let no spring flower go unplucked!  Let's take full advantage of every revelry, and leave every sign of enjoyment--for this is our lot.  Let us oppress the righteous poor; pay no attention to widows and gray-headed old folks.  Let might be our right, for whatever is weak proves worthless.'  They reasoned in this manner, blinded by their wickedness, led astray by their blindness.  They did not know God's secret purposes; they had no inkling of hope for the wages of holiness, nor discernment for the prize of blameless souls.  God created humankind for incorruption; He made us in the image of His own eternity, but through the devil's envy death entered God's creation.  And those who belong to the satan's party experience death indeed.

With Timothy, Paul wrote to the followers of Jesus at Colossae: Grace and peace to you from God our Father.  We always thank our God, the Father of our Lord Jesus the Messiah, when we pray, for we have heard of your love for the Messiah Jesus and for all His people--you depend on the hope laid up for you in heaven, since you first heard of God's grace and truth, learned first from Epaphras our beloved fellow servant, a faithful minister of Christ to our mutual benefit; and he has told us of your love in the Spirit.  From that day, we have not ceased to pray for you, asking that you be filled with the knowledge of His will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, that you may lead lives worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to Him, bearing fruit in every good work, and increasing in the knowledge of God.  May you be strengthened with all power, according to His glorious might, for all endurance and patience with joy, giving thanks to the Father Who has qualified us to share in the inheritance of the saints in light.  He has delivered us from the dominion of darkness and has transferred us to the kingdom of His beloved Son, in Whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.  Jesus Is the ikon o fthe invisible God; He Is the Firstborn over all creation.  

On a Sabbath, Jesus was leading His disciples through grainfields.  His disciples plucked and ate some heads of grain, rubbing them in their hands.  Witnessing this, some Pharisees objected: 'Why are you acting thus?  You are doing what is not lawful on the Sabbath!'  Jesus answered them: 'Haven't you read what David did when he was hungry?  He and those with him entered the house of God and took and ate the bread of the Presence, though that is not lawful for any but the priests to eat--and he shared it with his companions.'  Jesus added, addressing the Pharisees, 'The Son of man Is Lord of the Sabbath.'  On another Sabbath, Jesus entered a synagogue and taught.  Among those present was a man whose right hand was withered.  The scribes and Pharisees watched Jesus to see whether He would heal the man on the Sabbath--they intended to accuse Him, if so.  Jesus knew their thoughts.  He had the man with the crippled hand rise and stand in the midst of the congregation.  And Jesus said to His critics, 'I ask you: is it lawful on the Sabbath to do good, or to do harm?  To save life, or to destroy it?'  As He looked around at them all, Jesus said to the man, 'Stretch out your hand.'  He did so, and his hand was restored.  But Jesus's opponents were filled with fury, and they discussed among themselves what they might do to Jesus.