Thursday, June 29, 2017

Mortals waver; God is steadfast

Friday, June 29, 2017 - Devotions: Ps 102, 107:1-32; 1 Sam 9:1-14; Acts 7:17-29; Lk 22:31-38

YHWH, hear and answer my prayer; don't hide from me in times of distress; please answer speedily when I cry out to You.  My days pass like smoke in the wind; my bones burn like a furnace; my life withers; I forget to eat--I'm like a lone vulture in the wilds, an owl in a desert, a bird alone on a housetop.   Only enemies call out, and only to deride and curse me.  My diet is ashes; my drink is my own tears.  In Your righteous indignation, You have discarded me.  But You, Lord, are enthroned for ever; Your Name endures to every generation.  Have pity, Lord, on Your holy city, Your bondservants and worshipers.  Let the nations fear the Lord; and let the Lord build up Zion and come to her in glory.  God, hear the prayers of the destitute; do not despise our supplication.  Let those who come after me take note: YHWH looks down from heaven upon the wretched of the earth; He frees prisoners, pardons those sentenced to death.  So let mortals declare God's Name, and worship Him alone; let those in Jerusalem praise our God together.  God has broken my native strength, so that my only hope is in Him.  The earth and heavens He created may perish, but God endures for ever.  Lord, the children of Your servants will dwell secure, and their posterity will be established before You!
     Let us thank God, Whose steadfast love endures forever.  Let His redeemed declare it, whom He has ransomed from trouble and gathered from every corner of the earth.  Some rambled in desert wastes; God heard their cries and delivered them, providing water and leading them to cities:  He feeds the starving, gives water to the thirsty, and fills all with good things!  Others were moored in darkness, prisoners in affliction, bound in irons.  Their hearts quavered, and they fainted in hard labor, destitute and hopeless.  When they cried to YHWH in their trouble, He delivered them; He brought them out from darkness into His marvelous light; He broke their bonds asunder.  Let them thank YHWH for His steadfast love and mighty acts of compassion.  And some were sick because of sin; they loathed food; they languished near to death.  In their trouble, they cried out to YHWH, and He heard and delivered them from destruction; He sent forth His word and healed them.  Let them join in thanking God for His steadfast love and works of deliverance.  Let them give up sacrifices of thanksgiving and tell of God's deeds in songs of joy.  And some descended seaward in ships; they saw God's hand on the face of oceans and seas--the wind and waves came near to overwhelming them.  Their courage melted; they reeled and staggered like drunks, at their wits' end.  Then they cried out to YHWH, and He stilled storm and seas; He brought them peace and guided them to their safe harbor.  Let them thank YHWH for His steadfast love and wondrous works; let the great congregation extol and the elders praise our God.

When the Israelites begged God for a human king, He obliged them, sending Samuel to anoint the tall, comely son of Kish named Saul.  Kish's donkeys went missing, and he sent Saul to find them.  They searched high and low without success, then visited the man of God, Samuel, whom God had directed to anoint Saul as 'prince over My people Israel.'

The deacon and evangelist Stephen was falsely accused before the Jewish council, and gave his defense--an eloquent review of Israel's history before God--that enraged the authorities, who had him stoned.  During his remarks, Stephen said, 'The people multiplied in Egypt, until a pharaoh arose who knew nothing of Joseph.  He feared the Israelites, and sought to weaken or destroy them, by decreeing that every newborn male should be killed at birth.  Moses was born at this time, a beautiful child whom God preserved, so that when he was exposed, the pharaoh's daughter adopted him and raised him as her own son, so that Moses was instructed in all the wisdom of Egypt, and waxed mighty in words and deeds.  When he was forty, he was moved to visit his brethren, the descendants of Israel, and he witnessed an Egyptian oppressing a Hebrew, and Moses killed the Egyptian and hid his body in the sand.  The next day, Moses again visited, and sought to make peace between two quarreling Israelites.  But the offender thrust Moses aside, saying, 'Who made you a ruler over us?  Do you want to kill me as you killed the Egyptiain yesterday?'  Hearing this, Moses fled and became an exile in Midian, where he fathered two sons.

In the Upper Room, at Jesus's Last Supper, He addressed Peter:  'Simon, Simon, look!  Satan has demanded to have you [referring to all the apostles], that he might sift you all like wheat.  But I have prayed for you [singular--Peter alone], that your faith may not fail; and when you have turned again, you will be able to strengthen your brothers and sisters.'  Peter claimed he was ready to die with Jesus, but Jesus knew better:  'I tell you, Peter, the cock will not crow this coming day, until you hae denied three times that you know Me.'  Jesus reminded the apostles that when He had sent them out as missionaries, they took nothing and lacked nothing.  'But now,' He said, 'Take your purse and your bag, and if you lack one, sell your mantle and buy a sword.  I Am about to fulfill the scripture that says, "He was numbered among the transgressors"--for what has been written about Me is coming now to its fulfillment.'  They answered, 'Look, Lord: we have two swords.'  And Jesus said, 'It is enough.'

No comments: