Right Response to God's Compassion

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Saturday, January 10, 2009
Devotions: Ps 138, 139:1-17; 147; Isa 65:1-9; Rev 3:1-6; Jn 6:15-27

God, I praise you openly; You have exalted above all things Your name and Your word; You have strengthened my soul. Great is the glory of YHWH, yet He is Friend to the lowly! God, You preserve my life, even though I walk amid troubles; Your steadfast love endures forever. Stay near me, Lord; I am Your creature. You know everything about me; You are everywhere; You made me, and have nurtured me from conception on. I’m impressed by Your handiwork, God; and I know Your book holds the unfolding truth of my entire life. Your thoughts are precious to me, Lord God! You number the stars and manage the universe; yet You also lift up the downtrodden and cast down the wicked. God is delighted by those who fear Him and hope in His steadfast love. All creation is His. Let all that lives praise the Lord!
God says: ‘I have made Myself available to everyone; I have courted the faithless children of Israel, but they continue to rebel against Me. How I hate idolaters! Yet I do not destroy them, in My mercy and compassion. I will continue to deliver and protect the sons and daughters of Jacob and Judah, and they will inhabit the land I promised their fathers.’

Jesus says to the church in Sardis: ‘I Am He Who has the seven spirits of God and the seven stars. I know you and your works; you have the reputation of being alive, but you are dead! Wake up! Strengthen what remains; recall what you received from God. Unless you wake up and repent, I’ll come like a thief, at an unexpected hour. You still have a few members who have not lost their testimony; these, I will dress in white and keep with Me. Their names will remain the book of life, and I will confess them before My Father and His angels. Listen to what the Spirit is saying!’

After feeding the multitude, Jesus withdrew from them to the mountaintop, lest they force kingship upon Him. At evening, His disciples went down to the sea and began the voyage to Capernaum. After they had rowed three or four miles into a stiff wind, they saw Jesus approaching, walking on the water! They were afraid, but He encouraged them; as soon as He got into the boat, they reached their destination. The next day, the crowds searched for Jesus, first near the site of the feeding miracle, then at Capernaum. They wondered at His transportation, but He focused on what mattered more: ‘Don’t labor after food that perishes; search for what gives eternal life, which the Son of man will give you: for God has set His seal upon Me.’