God's orderly sovereignty

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, July 6, 2010
Devotions: Ps 5, 6, 10, 11; Num 35:1-3, 9-15, 30-34; Rom 8:31-39; Mt. 23:13-26

Lord, I cry out to You in the morning. Holy One, You abhor wickedness and arrogance. Through the abundance of Your steadfast love and worship, I approach Your holy temple. Lord, lead me in Your righteousness; make straight my path through the wiles of my enemies. There is no truth in them; make them fall by their own plots and intrigues. But let all who take refuge in You rejoice; let them sing for joy and defend them. You cover us with favor, as with a shield. Be gracious to me, Lord; I am languishing in this hot, pitiless summer. My soul is troubled. Deliver me for Your name’s sake; in death there is no remembrance of thee. I am tired of being tired, Lord, disgusted with myself. YHWH hears my supplications, and He will punish my enemies and deliver me from my vexations. The wicked prosper; they boast of their possessions; their mouths pour forth obscenities; their claws sink into the poor. They believe there is no God, or that God overlooks their predations. God, get up! Knock them for a loop! I know You see, You know; You are Defender of the weak. YHWH is King forever. Lord, heard the prayers of the meek and lowly; strengthen our hearts and help us! The wicked are assaulting Your people and Your creation; I know You hate the wicked and violent, for YHWH is righteous and loves righteous deeds. The upright will behold God’s face.

On the plains of Moab, YHWH directed Moses to command the Israelites to provide for the Levites, including cities and pasture lands surrounding them. God also directed the establishment of six cities of refuge, where anyone committing involuntary manslaughter might flee from the avenger of the lives they have taken. And God dictated the law concerning murder: the penalty was death, but it would be imposed only with the support of more than one witness. No ransom or substitution would be accepted; convicted murderers must be executed. The land itself would be polluted by the shedding of innocent blood; only the blood of the murderer could expiate for the blood of the victim. ‘You shall not defile the land in which you live, for I the Lord dwell in the midst of the people of Israel.’

If God is for us, no one can oppose us successfully. God, Who did not spare His own Son, but gave Him up for us all, will also give us all things we need, along with Jesus the Son. No one can bring charges against those God has chosen; God justifies, and no one else can condemn. The Messiah Jesus, Who died and was raised from death, is at God’s right hand, and He intercedes for us. So no one, nothing, can separate us from the love of the Messiah—not tribulation or distress, not persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword. It has been written, ‘For Your sake we are being killed all day long; we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.’ No—in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him Who loved us. I am certain that neither death nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation will be able to separate us from the love of God expressed in the Messiah Jesus our Lord.

Jesus condemned the Jewish authorities who burdened the people: Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! You shut the kingdom of heaven against people; you neither enter yourselves nor allow those who would enter to go in. Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! You traverse land and sea to make a single proselyte; then when someone converts, you make him twice as much a child of hell as you are yourselves! Woe to you, blind guides, who say ‘If anyone swears by the temple, it is nothing; but if one swears by the gold of the temple, that oath is valid and binding. Blind fools! Which is greater: the gold the temple has sanctified, or the temple itself? You say, ‘If anyone swears by the altar, it is nothing; but if one swears by the gift on the altar, that oath is valid and binding.’ Blind men! Which is greater: the gift, or the altar that sanctifies the gift? Whoever swears by the altar, swears by it and everything on it; whoever swears by the temple, swears by it and by Him Who dwells in it; and whoever swears by heaven, swears by the throne of God and by Him Who sits on it. Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! You tithe mint and dill and cumin from your gardens, yet you neglect the much weightier matters of Torah, justice, mercy and faith. You should do both, small things and great. You are blind guides, straining out a gnat and swallowing a camel! Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! You ritually cleanse the outside of the cup and plate, but are yourselves filled with extortion and rapacity. You blind Pharisee! First cleanse the inside of the cup and plate, that the outside may also be clean!