Be blessed or broken by God's sovereignty

New Guest: Like this one, most posts are devotional; those related to CAR BIZ can be found by searching for that title. You might read 'Welcome,' the first post, dated November 12, 2008, in the archives.

Monday, April 27, 2009
Devotions: Ps 9, 15, 25; Dan 4:19-27; 1 Jn 3:19-4:6; Lk 4:14-30

I thank God with my whole heart and sing Your praises forever. My God is Judge of all the universe—a stronghold for the oppressed, the Protector of all who need His help. Let us praise our God. He will not forget the needy forever; I have every reason for hope and confidence. Only those who are blameless can live with God—do what is right, speak truth from the heart, slander no one, forgive everyone, honor those who fear YHWH, keep promises and pledges, take no usury or bribes: whoever does these things will be immovable, by God’s grace. Lord, to You I lift my soul; let me not be put to shame. Make me know Your ways, my Lord, lead me in truth and teach me, God of my salvation! Remember not my sins, holy God, but remember me according to Your steadfast love and the goodness of my Lord Jesus! I will keep Your covenant and testimonies this day, if You will help me. I pray: turn to me, Lord, and be gracious tome; I am lonely and heartsore. Relieve my troubles and bring me out of my distresses; forgive all my sins. Guard and deliver my life; let me be put to no further shame; may Your integrity and righteousness preserve me. Redeem Your servant from all my troubles, I ask.

Daniel was again called to interpret a dream of King Nebuchadnezzar. In the dream, a holy ‘watcher’ descended from heaven and directed that a mighty tree be cut down, but its stump left in the ground, bound with brass and iron, so that the living might know that the Most High rules human kingdoms and their rulers. Daniel was dismayed, but the king reassured him and continued to seek interpretation. So Daniel told him, ‘O King, you are this great tree—your dominion extends far and wide. The Most High has decreed that you shall be driven from among men; you will dwell with the wild beasts, and eat grass like an ox. Seven years will pass, till you know that God rules human kingdoms, not men, and that He gives sovereignty to whomever He will. The blessings of kingship are a gift from God, not the fruit of the king’s virtues. When you have truly discovered this basic truth, God will restore the kingdom to you. Break off your sins, O king; practice righteousness; show mercy to the oppressed—that God might extend your tranquility.’ But all that was foretold befell Nebuchadnezzar a year later, even as he was congratulating himself on the majesty of ‘his’ city and palace.

John the Elder wrote: When we have pangs of guilt or doubt, let us yield to God and trust Him. Let us keep His commands and do what pleases Him: believe in the name of His Son Jesus the Messiah; let us love one another as He has commanded us. Those who do these things abide in Him and He in them; we know His abiding through His Spirit, Whom God has given us. Loved ones, don’t believe every spirit; instead, test the spirits, to see if they are from God. The test is, only the Holy Spirit confesses that Jesus the Messiah has come in the flesh; any spirit that does not affirm Jesus the Messiah is not of God, but the spirit of antichrist. You, my little children, are of God, and have overcome God’s enemies: He Who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world. They are of the world, and the world heeds them. We are of God, and whoever knows God listens to us. In these ways, we can discern the Spirit of truth from the spirit of error.

After He was tempted by Satan in the wilderness, Jesus returned in the power of the Spirit into Galilee. He taught in the synagogues and all glorified Him. He came in turn to His home town Nazareth, and went into the synagogue there, on the Sabbath, as His custom was. He stood to read from the scroll, beginning in Isaiah: ‘The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, because He has anointed Me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent Me to proclaim release to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty the oppressed, and to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord.’
He closed the scrolls and sat down to teach, beginning: ‘Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.’ All were conferring about Him—wondering at His gracious words, and asking, ‘Isn’t this Joseph’s son?’ Jesus said to them, ‘No doubt you will quote the proverb to Me: “Physician, heal Yourself: what we heard that you did at Capernaum, do here also, in your own homeland.”’ But Jesus continued: ‘I tell you most solemnly, no prophet is acceptable in his own homeland. I tell you in truth, there were many widows in Israel during the great famine, but Elijah was sent instead to help a widow in Zarephath in Sidon. There were many lepers in Israel in Elisha’s day, but God used the prophet to cleanse Naaman the Syrian, rather than one of the Israelite lepers.’ When the people of Nazareth heard this, they were enraged; they hustled Jesus out of the synagogue and the village; they took him to the brow of the steep hill outside town, intending to throw Him over the edge and kill Him. But Jesus passed through their midst and left Nazareth.