Abide as God commands and enables

Monday, August 7, 2017 - Devotions: Ps 89, 2 Sam 13:23-39; Acts 20:17-38; Mk 9:42-50

Ethan the Ezrahite wrote: YHWH, I will sing of Your steadfast love forever; I will proclaim Your faithfulness to all generations.  You swore a covenant with David and his house, to build his throne for all generations.  Let the heavens join in praising You; no heavenly being is like YHWH!  Lord, You rule heavens and earth; You rule the raging, chaotic seas; You crush every enemy, including chaos and rebellion.  You tower over all creation; Your throne sits upon foundations of righteousness and justice; steadfast love and faithfulness go before You!  Blessed are the mortals who shout Your praise; our well-being is from our King, the Holy One of Israel.  You chose David, a king after Your own heart; You made him highest mortal king on earth.  You have established his line forever, as You promised.  You allow human idolatry and sin to bear their consequences--death and exile, not least.  But You sustain David's line with the incarnation of Your own Son, Jesus.  Blessed be YHWH for ever!

David's ambitious son Absalom invited David and all David's other royal sons to be his guests at a sheep shearing.  David declined, but consented to his other sons attending at Absalom's invitation.  At the gathering, Absalom had his servants murder his half-brother Amnon, in vengeance for Amnon's rape of Absalom's sister Tamar.  After the murder, all the surviving princes scattered.  Word was brought to David that Absalom had murdered all the other royal heirs, but David's nephew Jonadab assured the king that only Amnon was dead, as the result of his rape and shaming of Tamar.  The other sons gathered to David, and they all mourned together.  Meanwhile, Absalom fled into Geshur for three years, while David, recovering from Amnon's loss and accepting its inevitability, grieved the absence of his son Absalom.  

Paul was bound in haste for Jerusalem, determined to reach the city before Pentecost, if possible.  He called for the elders of the church in Ephesus to meet him at Miletus, where Paul addressed them: 'You know how I lived among you from my first day in Asia, serving the Lord with all humility, with tears, and withstanding the trials that befell me due to plotting among the Jews.  I never shrank from forthrightly proclaiming anything to your profit; I taught in public, house to house, testifying to both Jews and Gentiles concerning repentance toward God and faith in our Lord Jesus the Messiah.  Now, look:  I am headed to Jerusalem, bound in the Holy Spirit, now knowing what will befall me there--except that the Holy Spirit testifies to me in every city that imprisonment and affliction lie before me.  I do not account my life of any value, even to myself, if only I may fulfill the course God has laid before me, the ministry which I received from the Lord Jesus the Messiah, to testify to the gospel of God's grace.  Now behold: I know that all of you, among whom I have preached the kingdom, will see my face no more. Therefore, I testify to you today: I am innocent of the blood of all of you, for I never shrank from declaring to you God's entire counsel.  Take heed to yourselves and to all the flock concerning whom the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to care for the church of God, which He obtained with the blood of His own Son.  I know that after my exodus, fierce wolves will come among you, not sparing the flock.  From among your own will arise men speaking perverse things to draw away disciples after themselves.  So be alert, remembering that for three years I never ceased night and day to admonish everyone with tears.  Now I commend you to God and to the word of His grace, which is able to build you up and to give you the inheritance among all who are sanctified.  I coveted no one's gold, silver or apparel; you know for sure that I earned my support with my own hands, and supported also all who worked and traveled with me.  In all things I have shown you that by so toiling one must help the weak, recalling the words of the Lord Jesus: "It is more blessed to give than to receive."' Paul then knelt and prayed with them all; and they wept and embraced and kissed the apostle.  Their sorrow was deepest over his statement that they would see him no more.  At last, they brought Paul to his ship.  

Jesus told His nearest disciples: 'Whoever causes one of the little ones who believes in Me to sin would be better off if a great millstone were hung around his neck and he were cast into the sea. Likewise, if your hand causes you to sin, cut it off; it is better to enter life maimed, than with two hands to go to hell.  If your foot causes you to sin, cut it off; you are better off alive and maimed than, with two feet, to be thrown into hell.  If your eye causes you to sin, pluck it out; better for you to enter God's kingdom with one eye than to keep both eyes and yet be thrown into hell. where the worms never die and the fire is not quenched.  Everyone will be salted with fire.  Salt is good, but if its savor is lost, you cannot restore its seasoning power.  Have salt in yourselves, and be at peace with one another.'