Feed on Him

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 in the archives, dated November 12, 2008, where I introduce myself and the blog. I invite to you add in any reflections or comments you may have.

Blessings and best wishes,
Dr. Will

Thursday and Friday, January 7 & 8, 2010
Devotions: Ps 103, 112-15, 117, 118; Deut 8:1-3; Exod 17:1-7; Col 1:1-23; Jn 6:30-33, 48-51; 7:37-52

Let my soul bless YHWH my Lord, recalling all His benefits: He forgives my iniquity; He heals my diseases; He redeems my life; He crowns me with steadfast love and mercy; He satisfied me with good as long as I live; He renews my life! God vindicates all who are oppressed; He gives justice to the powerless. He made His ways known to Moses; He showed His power to the people of Israel. YHWH is merciful, gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love. He chides and punishes for a season, but His favor endures forever. His love surpasses us as the heavens surmount the earth; He sets our sins as far from us as east is from west. God has pity on us as a father pities his children. He knows us through and through—He knows that we are mortal. We flourish like wildflowers, but we perish just as quickly; yet, God’s steadfast love eternally cares for all He has chosen, who keep His covenant and remember to do His commands. Let all sentient beings praise the Lord. They are blessed who fear YHWH; God prospers their households. He shines light upon them. God blesses those who deal generously and conduct their affairs justly. The righteous will never be moved; they will not be forgotten; they have no fear, for they trust the Lord. Their hearts are steady; they will not be afraid; they know they will triumph over their enemies, by God’s grace. Blessed is YHWH’s name; none is like Him. Nature cowers before His might; all the earth trembles at the presence of the Lord. Lord, glorify Your name alone. Our God is in heaven; He does whatever pleases Him; He alone is God—all other idols are powerless before Him. Let Israel trust YHWH alone. He has been mindful of us; He will bless His people, small and great. May the Maker of everything care for us and our children. Praise the Lord, all nations; extol Him, all peoples! His steadfast love endures forever. In distress, I have called on Him, and God has delivered me; I will look in triumph on every enemy. I brush them off, because YHWH is my Strength and my Song; He has become my Salvation. I will live to recount the deeds of the Lord. The stone which the builders rejected has become the head of the corner; this is YHWH’s doing, marvelous in our eyes. Today is YHWH’s day; I will rejoice and be glad in it! Hosanna; Lord, save now! We give thanks to YHWH, for His steadfast love endures forever.

Moses proclaims to Israel: All the commands I tell you today you must carefully follow, so that you may live and multiply, and take possession of the Land God has given you. Recall how God has delivered you, testing you for forty years in the wilderness; he let you hunger and thirst, but fed you manna and quail, and gave you water from the Rock: for man does not live by bread alone, but by everything that proceeds from the mouth of the Lord!

From the Wilderness of Sin, the Israelites moved forward by stages, as God commanded. At Rephidim, they camped, but there was no water; and the people grumbled against Moses. Moses cried out to YHWH. God directed him to got to the rock at Horeb, leading the elders of the people, and strike the rock with his staff—and water would pour forth, so that the people could drink. All this Moses did; and he called the place Massah and Meribah, [Proof and Contention] because the people were putting YHWH to the test, saying ‘Is YHWH among us or not?’

Paul and Timothy wrote to the Colossian Christians: ‘Grace to you and peace from God our Father. We always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus the Messiah when we pray, for we have heard of Your faith in the Messiah Jesus and your love for all the Christians, because of the hope laid aside for you in heaven. You know about this from hearing the gospel, which is bearing fruit among you, as it does everywhere—as you learned from Epaphras our beloved fellow servant, a faithful minister of the Messiah on our behalf, and he has told us about your love in the Spirit. We continue to ask God to fill you with the knowledge of His will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, so that you may lead lives worthy of the Lord and pleasing to Him, bearing fruit in every good work and growing in the knowledge of God. May you be strengthened with al power, according to His glorious might, for all endurance and patience with joy; may we all share in the inheritance of the saints in light. God has delivered us from the dominion of darkness, into the kingdom of His beloved Son, in Whom we are redeemed and our sins forgiven. Jesus is the perfect representation of the invisible God; He is the Firstborn of all creation, and has priority in everything. In Him all things in heaven and on earth were created: visible or invisible, thrones, dominions, principalities or authorities, made through Him and for Him. He Is, before all things; in Him, all things cohere. He is the Head of the body, the Church; He is the beginning, the Firstborn from the dead, so that He is pre-eminent in all things. In Him God’s fullness is pleased to dwell; through Him, God reconciles all things to Godself—whether on earth or heaven, making peace by the blood of His cross. Once you were estranged and hostile in mind; you did evil things; but now He has reconciled you in His body of flesh, by His death, in order to present you holy and blameless and irreproachable before Him, provided that you continue faithfully, stable and steadfast, abiding in the stable, steadfast faith and hope of the gospel you have heard, of which I, Paul, have become a minister.’

Jesus said to the crowds who wanted Him to feed them, ‘Most truly I tell you, Moses didn’t give your ancestors the bread from heaven; My Father gives you the true bread from heaven. This is That which comes down from heaven and gives life to the world….I Am the Bread of life; your ancestors ate manna in the wilderness, and eventually they died. But there is heavenly bread that a person can eat and not die. I Am the living bread come down from heaven; if anyone eats this bread, he will live for ever; and the bread which I will give for the life of the world is my own flesh.’ On the last and greatest day of the feast, Jesus stood up and proclaimed, ‘If any one thirst, let him come to Me and drink. Whoever believes in Me, from his heart will flow rivers of living waters, just as the scriptures said.’ Jesus was speaking of the Holy Spirit, not yet poured out because Jesus had not yet been glorified. Responses to His proclamation varied. Some said ‘This is the Messiah!’ Others asked, ‘What? Is the Messiah to come from Galilee? Doesn’t the scripture say the Messiah is a descendant of David, from his village, Bethlehem?’ They were divided over Jesus; some wanted to arrest Him, but no one laid hands on Him. The temple police reported back to the chief priests and Pharisees, who asked why they hadn’t arrested Jesus: ‘No one ever spoke like this man!’ But the Pharisees answered, ‘Are you also led astray? None of the authorities or Pharisees have believed in this man. The crowds who follow Him are ignorant of Torah; they are cursed!’ Nicodemus spoke up; he was one of the Jewish leaders, but he had gone to Jesus himself: ‘Does our law judge a man without first hearing him and learning what he does?’ But the scoffers answered, ‘Are you from Galilee, too? Check the scriptures: you’ll find that no prophet is to arise from Galilee.’ And each returned to his own house.