True reverence: trust and obey

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, where I introduce myself and the blog.

Monday, July 6, 2009
Devotions: Ps 1-4, 7; 1 Sam 15:1-23; Acts 9:19b-31; Lk 23:44-56a

The blessed man shuns the counsel, the path and the station of the wicked, the sinners and the scoffers. He delights in God’s law and meditates on it day and night. He is like a tree planted by streams of water, fruitful in every season, continually green and growing, prosperous in all he does. The wicked are wind-blown chaff; they cannot face God’s judgment, or stand among God’s people. YHWH is close to the righteous, and the wicked will perish apart from God. Sinners plot against God and His anointed; and He holds them in derision, and will confront them with terror. God has deeded creation to His chosen ones; His Messiah is King of kings and Lord of all creation. It is wise to side with Jesus and with God; happy are all who take refuge in Him! YHWH is my shield and my glory; He lifts my head and encourages me. I am safe by His fiat; I have nothing to fear, since I am with God. Deliver me, Mighty Lord! I put my whole trust in YHWH; Lord, You have put great joy in my heart! You have given me peace and security. Let God arise and scatter my enemies. YHWH is Judge of all. My shield is with God. I bow to Him and praise His holy name!

Samuel spoke to Saul: 'YHWH had me anoint you as king over His people. So now listen: God has judged Amalek, and sends you to utterly destroy all that nation. Spare no one, no thing: kill all the people and all their livestock.' Saul mustered the forces of Israel and marched on Amalek. He warned the Kenites to leave Amalekite territory, and routed the Amalekites. He kept God’s orders, but with exceptions: he took King Agag alive, and set aside the choicest sheep, oxen, fatlings (fattened calves and other young meat animals), and lambs. Directly, YHWH spoke to Samuel: ‘I repent that I have made Saul king, since he has already turned from My way and disobeyed My commands.’ Samuel was angry and cried to God all night long. Early the next day, Samuel arose and followed Saul’s path until he reached him at Gilgal. Saul greeted Samuel with words courteous but empty: ‘Blessed be you to YHWH; I have performed the commandment of YHWH.’ But Samuel said, ‘What then is the meaning of this bleating and lowing which I hear?’ Saul responded, ‘These are the choicest animals from Amalek; the people spared these to sacrifice to YHWH your God. The rest we have utterly destroyed.’ Samuel interrupted: ‘Stop! I must tell you what YHWH said to me this past night. Though you are little in your own eyes, God has made you head over the tribes of Israel, and anointed you their king. He sent you on a mission, and told you to destroy completely both the Amalekites and their livestock. So why didn’t you do what God told you?’ Saul protested ,’I have obeyed the voice of the Lord; I went where He sent me; I took captive Agag their king; and I have utterly destroyed the Amalekites. But the people took the very best of the spoil to sacrifice to your God in Gilgal.’ Samuel said, ‘YHWH has no great delight in burned offerings and sacrifices; He wants obedience. To obey God is better than to sacrifice to Him; to hearken is better than the fat of rams! Disobedience is rebellion; and rebellion is the same as divination, stubbornness is sin—all are forms of idolatry! Because you have rejected God’s word, YHWH has rejected you from being king.’

After being healed, baptized, and filled with the Holy Spirit, Saul remained several days with the disciples in Damascus. He immediately began to proclaim Jesus as the Son of God, in the synagogues there. Those who heard him were astounded: ‘Isn’t this the man who made havoc in Jerusalem, persecuting the Christians there? Didn’t he come here to drag us back to Jerusalem and bring us bound before the chief priests?’ But Saul continued to grow in strength, and confounded the Jews in Damascus by proving that Jesus is the Messiah! After a time, the Jews began to plot to kill Saul; they were watching the city gates day and night to kill him. But Paul’s new disciples lowered him down over the city wall by night, and he escaped. When he had come to Jerusalem, he tried to link up with the local Christians, but they were all afraid of him, and didn’t believe Saul had become a disciple. Barnabas took Saul to the apostles, and declared what he had experienced on the Damascus road, and how he had boldly preached in the name of the Lord. In Jerusalem, Saul spoke and disputed against the Hellenists, who then sought to kill him. When the Christian community learned of this, they brought Saul to Caesarea and sent him off to Tarsus. And for a time, the church had peace throughout Judea and Galilee and Samaria, and multiplied as it walked in fear of the Lord and the comfort of the Holy Spirit.

About 3 PM on the day Jesus was crucified, darkness covered the land until 6 PM. The sun’s light failed, and the curtain separating the Holy Place from the Holiest Place in the temple was torn in two. Then Jesus cried in a loud voice, ‘Father, into Your hands I commit My spirit!’ And He breathed His last. When the centurion saw all that occurred, he praised God and said, ‘Certainly this man was innocent!’ The multitude of witnesses to all these things returned home, beating their breasts. And all Jesus’ acquaintances and the women who had followed Him from Galilee stood at a distance and saw these things. Joseph of Arimathea, a good man and righteous, a member of the Jewish council, had not consented to their purpose and deed; and he was seeking the kingdom of God. He went to Pilate and requested the body of Jesus. He took it down, wrapped it in a linen shroud, and laid His body in a rock-hewn tomb which had never been used before. It was the Day of Preparation, and the Sabbath was beginning. The women who had accompanied Jesus from Galilee followed the body, saw the tomb, and went to their lodgings and prepared spices and ointments. Then all rested for the Sabbath, according to the commandment.