Kingdom living in a fallen world

Tuesday, October 3, 2017 - Devotions: Ps 94, 97, 99; 2 Chron 29:1-3, 30:1-27; 1 Cor 7:32-40; Mt 7:13-21

God of vengeance, shine forth!  Render judgment to the proud.  How long should the wicked exult?  They pour forth arrogance and boasting; they crush Your people, YHWH, and afflict Your heritage.  They slay widow and sojourner; they murder orphans, proclaiming, 'God doesn't see; the God of Jacob does not perceive.'  Listen, dullards and fools:  The One Who planted the ear can hear; He Who formed the eye can see.  The One Who chastens nations, chastises; God Who creates knowledge and is humankind's Teacher knows mortal thoughts: they are but a breath.  YHWH, the mortals whom You chasten is blessed, as are any whom You teach from Your law, to give them respite from trouble until the day of final judgment for the wicked.  YHWH will never forsake His people, not abandon His heritage.  He will bring justice to he righteous, and the upright in heart will follow His ways.  If YHWH had not been my help, I would soon have dwelt in profound silence.  When I have thought my foot was slipping, You upheld and sustained me, Lord!  When the cares of my heart are many, Your consolations cheer my soul.  The wicked and mighty among humans frame mischief by statute; they condemn the innocent to death.  But YHWH Is my strong, the Rock of my refuge.  God will bring back on the wicked their own iniquity; He will wipe them out.  So let earth rejoice!  Righteousness and justice are foundations of His kingship.  Heavenly beings proclaim God's righteousness; mortals behold His glory.  Idolaters are put to shame; God's disciples hear and rejoice at Your judgments, O God.  You, YHWH, Are the most high, exalted far above all other 'gods.'  YHWH loves those who hate evil and keeps His saints alive, delivering us from the hand of the wicked.  Light dawns for the righteous, joy for the upright in heart.  Let us give thanks to His holy name!  Holy Is He, Mighty King, lover of justice, maker of equity.  Let us worship at His footstool.  Moses, Aaron and Samuel were among His priests; God forgave them, delivered them, preserved them.  Let us worship YHWH, for He Is holy.

King Hezekiah sought to restore worship of YHWH in Jerusalem, opening and repairing the very doors of God's temple there.  He declared to all Israel and Judah that they should gather to celebrate Passover in Jerusalem, at God's house there.  Their first Passover was delayed, celebrated in the second month, for lack of consecrated priests and because of the time needed for the people to assemble.  Hezekiah's message: 'People of Israel, return to YHWH, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Israel, that He may turn again to the remnant who have escaped from Assyrian captivity.  Don't be like your faithless, stiff-necked ancestors.  Yield yourselves to God; come to His sanctuary, which He has sanctified forever, that His fierce anger may turn from you.  Doing this, you and your community and your children will find compassion with our captors.  YHWH your God Is gracious and merciful; He will not turn away from you, if you return to Him.'  Few from Asher, Manasseh or Zebulun heeded this message, humbling themselves and journeying to Jerusalem.  Judah and its princes, however, responded as one, wholeheartedly, obeying the word of the king.  A great assembly gathered in the second month in Jerusalem.  They removed the idolatrous altars from the city, casting them into the Kidron valley.  They killed the Passover lamb on the fourteenth day of the second month.  Priest and Levites, stung to shame, sanctified themselves, and began bringing burnt offerings into the Lord's house, and following the priestly offices as Moses had detailed them.  The Levites killed sacrificial lambs for many from Ephraim, Manasseh, Issachar and Zebulun who had not cleansed themselves.  Hezekiah had prayed for them:  'The good YHWH pardon everyone who sets his heart to seek God, YHWH, the God of his fathers, even though not observing the sanctuary's rules of cleanness.'  YHWH heard and granted Hezekiah's prayer, and healed the people.  The people kept the Feast of Unleavened Bread with great joy, and the Levites and priests praised YHWH ceaselessly, singing to the Lord with all their might.  King Hezekiah encouraged the Levites, and the festival proceeded for seven days.  Then the whole assembly agreed to continue the feast and celebrations for another seven days!  The king provided a thousand bulls and seven thousand sheep for sacrifice, and the princes added another thousand bulls and ten thousand sheep!  All rejoiced; there had been nothing like this in Jerusalem since the time of Solomon; and the prayers of priests and Levites for the people came to God's holy habitation in heaven.

Paul counsels the Corinthian Christians:  I want you freed from anxiety.  A man unmarried focuses on the affairs of the Lord and how to please Him, while a married man is concerned about worldly affairs and pleasing his wife.  A single girl or woman focuses on pleasing the Lord, how to be holy in body and spirit, while married women are anxious about pleasing their husbands and the cares of the world.  For your own benefit, chaste singleness has great advantages.  But if one is engaged and feels strong passion and deep conviction to behave properly toward his fiancee, let them marry--it is no sin.  But anyone firmly established in heart, without constraint and under control, does well to remain unmarried: he who marries his betrothed does well, but he who refrains from marriage does better.  A wife is bound to her husband while both live; if her husband dies, a woman is free to marry, only in the Lord.  But in my judgment, she is happier if she remains a godly widow.  And I say this with the confidence that I have the Spirit of God.

As He continued His sermon on the mount, Jesus said:  Don't judge, lest you be judged; the judgments you pronounce on others will be applied to you; the measure you give, is what you'll get.  You claim to see the speck in another's eye, but you fail to notice the log in your own eye.  Hypocrite!  Take the log from your own eye--clear your own account; then perhaps you'll see clearly enough to take the speck from your brother's eye!  Don't share what is holy with dogs; don't throw your pearls to swine; it's likely they'll trample your pearls into the muck, then attack you.  Keep on asking, and what you ask will be given to  you; keep on seeking, and you will find; keep on knocking, and the door will be opened to you.  Everyone who asks, receives; all who seek, find; and to everyone who knocks, God will open the Way.  Consider yourselves:  if a man's son asks him for bread, he won't give the boy a stone, will he?  If one's child asks for a fish, who would give their child a serpent instead?  So consider: if you, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good things to those who ask Him!  So: whatever you wish that people would do to you, do so to them; for this sums up the Law and the Prophets.