God's ways are not our ways

New Guest: Like this one, most posts are devotional; those related to CAR BIZ can be found by searching the blog archives for that title. You might start with 'Welcome,' the first post, dated November 12, 2008, where I introduce myself and the blog. As you read, I encourage you to record any reflections or comments you may have, for the entries here serve best as the first remarks in a conversation.

Blessings and best wishes,
Dr. Will

Tuesday, June 15, 2010
Devotions: Ps 78; Num 11:1-23; Rom 1:16-25; Mt 17:22-27

Asaph wrote: My people, hear my teaching concerning the glorious deeds of YHWH our God. He established His testimony among the offspring of Jacob; He appointed His law among the people of Israel. He commanded our ancestors to teach their descendants all these things, so each generation would put their faith and hope in God, and not forget Him or His mighty works. Again and again, however, our ancestors fell short of God’s way. The Ephraimites turned back in a day of battle, leaving God and His covenant behind them. They forgot YHWH’s mighty deeds in Egypt and His faithful leading for the decades in the desert, by a cloud pillar in the day and a fire pillar at night. God provided water and food for the throng in the emptiest wilderness—but they multiplied their sins against Him. How this angered God! Yet, even as He punished the people for their unfaithfulness, He continued to nurture, shelter and guide them. Mortals ate the bread of angels, but their hearts were not steadfast toward Him, and they deserted His covenant. Yet God restrained His wrath. He brought the people to His holy land, and drove out nations before them, settling His people where others had lived before. Still they tested and rebelled against the Most High God and ignored His testimonies. They followed other gods. They demanded kings, like the pagan nations. God utterly rejected Israel in their apostasy. He rejected the descendants of Joseph, and chose instead the tribe of Judah; He put His earthly headquarters on Mt. Zion; He chose David to shepherd His people, and He tended and guided the people with a skillful hand.

The Israelites complained bitterly, railing against YHWH and Moses. YHWH’s fire broke forth against the complainers, and the people cried out to Moses, and the fire abated. Again the people voiced their cravings, complaining that they had eaten better as slaves in Egypt than as God’s people in the wilderness. Moses conferred with God, saying that the people were too great a burden for Moses to bear—and now they were demanding meat. Moses knew he couldn’t provide this, and asked God for death, to escape his wretchedness. Instead, God provided a better solution: ‘Gather seventy elders from the people; bring them to the Tent of Meeting to stand there with you. And I will put My Spirit on them, so that they can help you bear the burden of this people. Then tell the people to consecrate themselves; tell them their complaints have been heard, and I will give them meat to eat for a whole month, until they are sickened by consuming it. Tell them, "You have rejected YHWH Who is among you."’ Moses still didn’t understand how sufficient meat would be provided for the multitude of 600,000 or more. So YHWH told him, ‘Is YHWH’s hand shortened? Watch and you will see whether My word will come true for you or not.’

Paul wrote: I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes—first for the Jew, then for the Gentile. The gospel reveals God’s righteousness through faith, for faith. As was written, ‘Whoever is righteous through faith shall live!’ God’s wrath is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and wickedness of men who suppress the truth. What could be known about God has been made evident by God Himself. From the creation of the world, God’s invisible nature—His eternal power and deity—has been clearly perceived in the creation He made. So humans are without excuse: though they could easily know God, they did not honor Him as God or give Him thanks, but became futile in their thinking, and their senseless minds were darkened. Claiming to be wise, they became fools and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortals or birds or animals or reptiles. So God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to dishonoring their bodies among themselves. They exchanged truth about God for a lie, and so worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, Who is blessed forever! Amen.

As Jesus and His party gathered in the Galilee, Jesus told them, ‘The Son of man will be delivered into the hands of men, and they will kill Him, and He will be raised on the third day.’ They greatly distressed His hearers. When they came to Capernaum, the collectors of the temple tax, a half-shekel per person, approached Peter, saying ‘Doesn’t your teacher pay the tax?’ Peter replied, ‘Sure He does.’ And when Peter came home, Jesus spoke to Him first: ‘What do you think, Simon? From whom do the earthly authorities take toll tribute: from their sons, or from others?’ ‘From others,’ Peter replied. ‘Then the sons are free,’ Jesus said. ‘But so as to avoid offense, go to the sea and cast a hook. Take the first fish that you catch, and when you open its mouth you will find a shekel. Take that and give it to them for me and for yourself.’