Seek God's help, do God's bidding, by God's grace

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 29, 2010
Devotions: Ps 121-27; Num 22:21-38; Rom 7:1-12; Mt 21:23-32

I lift my eyes to the hills, and consider: my help comes from YHWH, Who made heaven and earth. He will not let my foot be moved; He will watch over me, and He never sleeps or drowses off. He protects me from all evil, for ever. It encourages me when we assemble to worship the Lord; and that reminds me to pray for peace for Israel and for Jerusalem. Lord, I lift my eyes and my heart to You; I depend on You utterly. Have mercy on us, YHWH! We’ve had a surfeit of contempt; too long my soul has been saturated with the scorn of those at leisure, the contempt of the proud. If God had not been at my side, they would long ago have swallowed me alive. Blessed is YHWH, Who has not given me up as prey to the ravening wicked. My help is in the Name of YHWH, Lord of heaven and earth. He surrounds His own as the mountains surround Jerusalem, forever. Evil will not rule God’s kingdom; Lord, do good to all who trust in You, and turn aside the wicked. Peace be upon the Israel of God. When God restored our fortunes, we were like dreamers, filled with laughter and shouting in joy. We tell everyone, ‘God has done great things for us, and we are glad!’ Lord, sustain us, as the waters sustain crops in the Negev. May we who sow in tears reap with shouts of joy. We who go forth weeping, bearing seeds to sow, shall come home with shouts of joy, bringing our harvest sheaves with us! We labor in vain unless we labor under God; when He builds a house, it stands. Without God, we can work ourselves to a nubbin, and have no fruit. God gives rest to His beloved. Children and grandchildren are a heritage from the Lord. Happy are those who have many sons; they will not be put to shame when they debate with enemies in public.

At God’s direction, Balaam agreed to accompany the emissaries of Moab. Yet, his going kindled God’s anger against Balaam, and God’s angel stood in Balaam’s path with a drawn sword. The prophet was riding his donkey, accompanied by two servants. The donkey saw God’s angel and turned aside, leaving the road to avoid its master’s harm. But Balaam beat the donkey and forced her back onto the road. Next, the angel of the Lord took a stand in a narrow path between vineyards, walls on each side, so no evasion was possible. The donkey pushed far to one side, and caught Balaam’s foot against the wall. So he struck her again. The angel moved to another place where the path was so narrow that no escape was possible. Seeing this, the donkey simply laid down under Balaam. He was furious and beat the animal with his staff. YHWH opened the donkey’s mouth and she spoke: ‘What have I done to you, that you have struck me these three times?’ Balaam, still enraged, answered, ‘Because you’ve made a joke of me. If I had a sword, I’d kill you!’ The donkey said, ‘Am I not your donkey, on which you’ve ridden all your life long, to this very day? Was I ever accustomed to do so to you.’ He answered, ‘Well, no.’ Then the Lord opened Balaam’s eyes, and he saw his way blocked by the angel of the Lord with a drawn sword; Balaam bowed and fell facedown in submission. The angel addressed Balaam: ‘Why have you struck your donkey these three times. Behold, I was sent forth to withstand you, because your way is perverse before Me. Your donkey perceived Me and turned aside from Me these three times. If she had not, surely just now I would have slain you and let her live.’ Balaam said, ‘I have sinned, for I did not know that You stood in the road against me. Now therefore, if the errand is evil, I will go back again.’ The angel of the Lord said to Balaam, ‘Go with the men; but you will speak only the words that I give you.’ So Balaam went on with the princes from Balak, king of Moab. Balak came out to meet the prophet at the city of Moab, at his realm’s furthest boundary, formed by the Arnon brook. Balak greeting Balaam: ‘Did I not send to call you? Why did you delay? Am I not able to honor you?’ Balaam replied, ‘Lo, I have come to you. Have I power at all to speak anything? The word that God puts in my mouth, that is what I must speak.’

Paul continued his discussion of God’s law in relation to human sin: My brothers and sisters, you know the law, and you know that it is binding only while one is alive. A married woman is bound to her husband while he lives; but if he dies, she is free from the law as concerns her husband. She would be judged an adulteress if she lived with another man while her husband is alive. But if her husband dies, she is free from that law, and is not an adulteress if she then marries another man. In the same way, my brothers and sisters, you died to the law through the body of the Messiah, so that you may belong to another, to Him Who has been raised from the dead in order that we may bear fruit for God. While we were living in the flesh, our sinful passions, aroused by the law, were at work in our members, producing fruit for death. But now we are discharged from the law, dead to that which held us captive, so that we serve not under the old written code, but in the new life of the Spirit. Does this mean that the law is sin? Absolutely not! Without the law, I would not have known sin. The command, ‘Do not covet’ lets me realize what it is to covet. Sin, finding opportunity in the commandment, wrought in me all kinds of covetousness. Apart from the law, sin lies dead. Once I was alive apart from the law; then the commandment came; sin revived, and I died. The very commandment which promised life for obedience proved death to me, because I cannot keep the law. Sin, finding opportunity in the commandment, deceived me and by that deception, in view of the law, killed me! The law is holy, and the commandment is holy and just and good. [The problem is in me, not in the law.]

As Jesus taught in the temple, He was approached and challenged by the chief priests and elders: ‘By what authority are you doing these things? Who gave you this authority?’ Jesus replied, ‘I’ll also ask you a question; and if you answer My question, I will tell you by what authority I do these things. So: concerning John’s baptism: was it from heaven, or from men?’ The Jewish authorities disputed with one another: ‘If we say, “From heaven,” he will ask us why we didn’t accept and believe John. But if we say, “From men,’ the masses will threaten us, because they think that John was a prophet of God. So they replied to Jesus, ‘We don’t know.’ And He said to them, ‘Neither will I tell you by what authority I do these things.’ Jesus went on: ‘What do you think? A man had two sons, and told them both to go and work in his vineyard. The first said, “I will not,” but later repented and did as his father asked. The second said, “I’m on my way, sir,” but he did not go to the vineyard as his father asked. Now: which of these two sons did the will of his father? All the authorities said, ‘The first son.’ And Jesus replied, ‘Truly I tell you, the tax collectors and harlots go into God’s kingdom ahead of you. For John came to you in the way of righteousness, and you did not believe him or do what he said; but the tax collectors and harlots believed him, and complied with his message. Even when you witnessed all this, you did not afterward repent and believe him.’