God's eternal care unfolds

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

Wednesday, June 17, 2009
Devotions: Ps 81, 82, 119:97-120; 1 Sam 2:12-26; Acts 2:1-21; Lk 20:27-40

Let us raise a ruckus in praise of our God! Shout, sing, and blow the trumpets! God has established His people by means of our worship and praise. God has taken the burdens from my shoulders; He has called and delivered me from distress. God has tested and admonished His people: ‘No idols! I Am YHWH, the God Who delivered you and cared for you—yet My people recurrently turn to other gods. How I long for My people to listen and walk in My ways, so that I may bless them with honey from the Rock!’ God also chastens the other spiritual powers: ‘Give justice to the weak; rescue the powerless. Provide light and guidance as they blunder in darkness.’ God alone is our Judge and Caretaker. Lord, how I love Your law; You teach me wisdom that surpasses that of my enemies, my teachers and my elders. You light my path and inform my choices. Lord, accept me as an offering; hold me to Your way; be my Hiding Place and Shield. My hope and faith are in You and in Your word, and my only fear is to offend Your holy love and be judged unwelcome in Your presence.

The sons of Eli, YHWH’s high priest at Shiloh, were worthless, sinful men. They exploited worshipers at the shrine; they stole from people and from God. They treated God with contempt! Meanwhile, the consecrated boy Samuel was ministering before YHWH, girded in a linen ephod made by his devout mother Hannah. After dedicating her firstborn to God, Hanna was blessed with five more children. As Eli reached old age, he confronted his sons with their sins and lewdness, for they even lay with the women who served at the tabernacle entrance. But they paid their father no heed, for God had abandoned them to death. Meanwhile, Samuel continued to grow in stature and in favor with both God and men.

On the Pentecost after Jesus’ resurrection and ascension, the disciples were together in one place. Suddenly there was a sound from heaven, like the rush of a mighty wind; tongues of fire appeared, one resting on each disciple; they were filled with the Holy Spirit, and began to speak in other languages as the Spirit gave them utterance. Because of the festival, Jerusalem was teeming with devout Jews from every corner of the known world, and the tumult drew a great and diverse crowd. They marveled, hearing the disciples speaking in all the tongues native to members of the crowd—‘These are all Galileans, yet we hear them speak in our own native languages: Parthians, Medes, Elamites, Mesopotamians, Judeans, Cappadocians, Asians and people of Pontus, Phrygians, Pamphylians, Egyptians, Libyans from Kyrene, Cretans, Arabians, and Romans—Jews and proselytes alike! Some marveled; others mocked: ‘They’re drunk, that’s all.’ Peter stood and addressed the assembled crowd: ‘Judeans and visitors in Jerusalem: listen to me. These aren’t drunk—it’s only 9 AM; rather, what you see is what Joel prophesied: “God declares that in the last days, I will pour out My Spirit on all flesh. Your sons and daughters with prophesy; your youths will see visions and your elderly will dream dreams. I will pour out My Spirit on men and women alike, and they will prophesy. I will show great sings in heaven and on earth; nature will reflect the movement of My Spirit—blood, fire, vapor of smoke, darkened sun and blood-red moon, all announcing the great and manifest Day of the Lord. And whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved!”’

Sadducees, who denied the resurrection of the dead, came to Jesus with a poser based on their perspective: ‘Teacher, Moses wrote that if a man’s brother dies, married but childless, the man must marry his brother’s widow and with her, must raise up children in his brother’s name. Now, there were seven brothers; the first took a wife, but died before they had a child. And the same happened with each brother—in succession, all seven married the woman, and all died before their unions produced heirs. Finally, the woman also died. In the resurrection, therefore, whose wife will the woman be, since all seven married and had relations with her?’ Jesus answered directly: ‘People of this present age marry and are given in marriage. But those accounted worthy of the age to come and the resurrection from death neither marry nor are given in marriage. They are immortal, like the angels; they have become children of God, being children of the resurrection. You quote Moses; and Moses showed that the dead are raised. Consider the passage about the burning bush: there, Moses calls the Lord the God of Abraham and the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob. Now, He is not God of the dead, but of the living; for all live to Him.’ Some scribes replied, ‘Teacher, You have spoken well.’ And they dared question Him no more.