Faithful obedience and enlightenment

Thursday, January 4, 2018 - Devotions: Ps 85, 87, 89:1-29; Josh 3:14-4:7; Eph 5:1-20; 
Jn 9:1-12, 35-38

YHWH, You have been favorable to Your land; You restored the fortune of the family of Jacob.  You forgave their iniquity and pardoned all their sin.  You withdrew your wrath and turned from your hot anger.  God of our salvation, restore us again!  Set aside Your righteous indignation toward us.  Revive us again, Lord; let us rejoice in You.  Show us Your steadfast love, O Lord, and grant us Your salvation.  Help me hear what YHWH Elohim will say; let Him speak peace to His people, all who turn our hearts to Him, so that true glory may dwell among us.  Steadfast love and faithfulness meet; righteousness and peace kiss one another.  As holy God looks down in righteousness, let God's people look up in faithfulness.  As God provides, let us go in the path of righteousness.  Our God loves Jerusalem more than any other settlement of His people.  City of God, glorious things are said about you!  It is a privilege to be a native of Jerusalem, the city God Most High will establish.  The wellsprings of song and dance are in you, favored city!  YHWH, I will sing of your steadfast love forever; I will proclaim Your righteousness to all generations--they are eternal, unshakeable.  Your covenant is established forever.  Let the heavens praise our God; He alone is true God, terrible before the ranks of spirit beings; none is mighty as You Are, our God!  All that is, You have made; all that exists belongs to You.  Your throne sits on a foundation of righteousness and justice; You are heralded by Your love and faithfulness.  Blessed are all who know the festal shout of worship and praise to our God--who walk in the light of Your countenance, who exult in Your name without ceasing, and who extol Your righteousness.  Our might derives from God alone.  He has anointed the Root and Offspring of David, His own Son, as eternal king.  No enemy can outwit Him; He rightly names God as His own Father.  God's steadfast love will keep Him forever, and the covenant will not depart from Him.  Amen!

God prepared Joshua to lead the Israelites into Canaan.  When the feet of those bearing the Ark touched the waters of Jordan, the waters stood and rose up, upstream at Adam near Zarethan, and the river bed was laid bare.  The people passed over opposite Jericho, as the priests bearing the Ark of the covenant of YHWH stood on dry ground at mid-stream, until all the nation had passed over the Jordan's course.  Then YHWH directed Joshua: 'Take twelve men, one from each tribe; have each take a stone from the midst of the riverbed, and carry them to the west bank, and lay them down in the place where you encamp tonight.'  Joshua did as God directed, and he told the twelve, 'This will be a sign among you; when in days to come, your children ask 'What do these stones mean?'  Tell them that the waters of Jordan were cut off before the Ark of the covenant of YHWH.  So these stones shall be to the people of Israel a memorial forever.'

Paul's letter we call Ephesians counseled his readers:  Be imitators of God, as beloved children.  Walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave Himself up for us, a fragrant offer and acceptable sacrifice to God.  Don't even speak of fornication, of all impurity, or of covetousness.  Let there be no filthiness, no silly talk, no levity in your lives together.  Instead, devote yourselves to thanksgiving.  Know this for certain:  no fornicator, no impure or covetous person, no idolater has any inheritance in the kingdom of the Messiah and of God.  Let no one deceive you with empty words; it is such things that bring down the wrath of God upon those who are sons of disobedience.  Therefore, don't even associate with such people; you also once were of darkness, but now you are light in the Lord.  So walk as children of light; the fruit of light is in all that is good and right and true.  Strive to learn what pleases the Lord.  Shun the unfruitful works of darkness; instead, expose them to the light.  It is a shame to speak of things done in secret; but when anything is exposed to light and becomes visible, it can be transformed--anything that becomes visible is light.  For this reason, it has been said, 'Awake, O sleeper, and arise from death, and Christ shall give you light.'  So take care how you walk; proceed as wise people, not fools; make the most of the life God gives you, for the days are evil.  Don't be foolish; instead, understand the Lord's will.  Don't get drunk with wine; that is debauchery; instead, be filled with the Spirit, addressing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart, at all times, in all ways, giving thanks to God the Father for everything ,in the name of our Lord Jesus the Messiah.

Jesus had almost been stoned by indignant Pharisees for asserting 'before Abraham was, I Am.'  But He evaded them, and as He was going along, Jesus and His disciples passed by a man blind from birth.  The disciples asked Jesus, 'Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, so that he was born blind?'  Jesus answered, 'The blindness came neither from his sins or those of his parents; he is blind so that God's works might be manifest in him.  We must work the works of Him Who sent Me as long as day lasts; night comes, when no one can work.  As long as I Am in the world, I Am the Light of the world.'  Saying this, Jesus spat on the ground and made clay with the saliva, then anointed the man's blind eyes with the clay, saying to him, 'Go; wash in the pool of Siloam' [the pool's name means 'Sent'].  The man did as Jesus directed, and came back seeing!  The neighbors and others who had known him as a blind beggar conferred:  'Isn't this the man who used to sit and beg?'  Some said, 'Yes, it's the same man' and others said, 'No, but he's very much like that fellow.'  The man himself spoke up, 'I am the man.'  They asked, 'Then how were your eyes opened?'  He said, 'The man named Jesus made clay and anointed my eyes and said to me, "Go to Siloam and wash".  So I did, and received my sight.'  The bystanders asked, 'Where is He?'  And the man said, 'I do not know'.  The people brought the man to the Pharisees.  It was a Sabbath when Jesus made the clay and opened his eyes [and when he walked to the pool and washed.  After cross-examining the man and his parents, the Pharisees cast him out.]  Jesus heard that they had cast him out, and found him and said, 'Do you believe in the Son of man?'  The healed man answered, 'Who is he, sir, that I may believe in him?'  Jesus said, 'You have seen Him; it is He Who speaks to you now.'  And the man said, 'Lord, I believe!'  And he worshiped Jesus.  Jesus said, 'I came into this world for judgment, that those who do not see may see, and that those who see may become blind.'  Some Pharisees overheard this and said to Jesus, 'Are we also blind?'  Jesus answered them: 'If you were blind, you would have no guilt; but now that you say 'We see,' your guilt remains.