Await His resolution

New Guest: Like this one, most entries are devotional. Those related to Car Biz can be located by searching the blog archives for that title. You might start with 'Welcome,' the first entry, dated November 12, 2008, where I introduce myself and the blog. I hope you'll record your responses as you read, since these entries serve best as the first remarks in a coversation.

Blessings and best wishes,
Dr. Will

Wednesday, July 28, 2010
Devotions: Ps 72; 119:73-96; Jdg 3:12-30; Acts 1:1-14; Mt 27:45-54

God is good to the upright and pure in heart. But I'm not always that virtuous; I am prone to stumble and slip. I tend to envy the confidence of the arrogant and the prosperity of the wicked. They have no guilt; they look healthy and rich; they assume their own superiority and flaunt it. They scoff at others and strut through life getting adulation from all around them. They think God is a joke and that believers don't get it. Meanwhile, I face challenges and chastening all day, every day. Pondering all this look wearisome; but when I do it, I see things in a new, clearler light. God puts these proud sinners on a slippery slope; and their fall, while delayed, is profound. They are destroyed in a moment and swept away in shock and terror. They disappear like bad dreams, and I shake off their traces. When I was bitter, heart-sore, I was also stupid and ignorant, like an animal toward You, my God. However, You are continually with me; You protect and guide me through life, and You will receive me into Your glory! I have nothing in heaven or earth apart from You; God is my Strength and my Portion forever, and my heart is glad. Those far from You will perish; but for me it is good to be near God. YHWH is my refuge, and I will declare Your goodness and power, and all Your mighty acts. Lord, You have fashioned and sustained me. Give me understanding of Your principles. Your judgments are right; You permit me to be afflicted, and this is motivated by Your love and faithfulness. You use affliction to train me for glory. Pour out Your mercy on me, that I may live and delight in You and in Your law. Let the godless be put to shame, while I meditate on Your precepts. May I be blameless regarding Your statutes; preserve me from shame, Lord. I am Yours, Lord, so keep on saving me! There is peace and hope and joy and abundance in living by Your words.

Israel fell away after the death of Othniel, and YHWH strengthend Eglon, king of Moab, to afflict them. He gathered Ammonites and Amalekits and attacked, defeating Israel and taking Jericho. Israel was subjected to Eglon of Moab for eighteen years. The people cried out to YHWH, and He raised up a deliverer, Ehud, son of Gera of Benjamin's tribe. Ehud was left-handed. He made himself a sharp two-edged sword just 18 inches long, and concealed it on his right thigh, under his clothing. Ehud took Israel's tribute and presented it to Eglon; after the presentation, Ehud dismissed the bearers. And shortly after departing from the king, Ehud turned back. He told Eglon, 'I have a secredt message from God for you.' The king, a very fat man, arose when he heard this, and cleared the room. When they were alone, Ehud approached and thrust his sword deep into the king's belly. The hilt went in after the blade, and the fat closed over the sword. Ehud could not draw it out. The king was mortally wounded, and excretory wastes poured from him. Ehud went out through the vestibule, closed the chamber doors and locked them. Then he escaped. When the king's servants returned, they found the chamber locked (and perhaps could smell the excretions). They assumed the king was relieving himself, and waited. When they were beside themselves, they opened the chamber, and there lay their master, dead on the floor. Ehud escaped to Seirah, and sounded the alarm in Ephraim, and all the people of Israel went down following him from the hill country. They seized the fords of the Jordan and held them against the Moabites; they killed ten thousand, and none escaped. The land had rest for eighty years.

In Luke's gospel, he wrote about all that Jesus began to do and to teach until He ascended to the Father. He had presented Himself to the apostles, risen from death, and appeared to them repeatedly over a period of forty days. He performed many acts of wonder, and spoke about the kingdom of God. Jesus charged His disciples to remain in Jerusalem, to await the promised Holy Spirit from God, 'for John baptized with water, but soon you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.' They asked Jesus when He would rstore the kingdom to Israel, but Jesus told them, 'It is not for you to know the times or seasons established by the Father's authority. But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you, and you will be My witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.' As as they watched, Jesus was lifted up and disappeared into the clouds. While they gazed after Him, two men dressed in white robes appeared nearby and said, 'Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into heaven? This Jesus , Who was taken from you into heaven, will come in the same way you saw Him go into heaven.' They returned from the Mount of Olives to Jerusalem, a sabbath day's journey, and went into the upper room, where they were staying: Peter, James, John, Andrew, Philip, Thomas, Bartholomew, Matthew, James son of Alphaeus, Simon the Zealot, and Judas son of James. They devoted themselves to prayer, along with the women, and Mary the mother of Jesus, and His brothers.

From 3 PM to 6 PM on Good Friday, there was darkness over the land of Israel, as Jesus suffered on the cross. About 6 PM, Jesus cried with a loud voice, 'Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani?' [My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?] Some in the crowd of witnesses thought Jesus was calling for Elijah. One took a sponge, saturated it with wine-vinegar, and put it on a reed and raised it to Jesus' lips for Him to drink. The others waited to see if Elijah woujld appear. Jesus cried aloud once more, then yielded up His spirit. At this time, the curtain of the temple was torn in two, top to bottom; and there was an earthquake, and the rocks split open. Tombs also were opened, and many bodies of saints who had fallen asleep and were buried now were raised. After Jesus' resurrection, they went into the Holy City and appeared to many. When the centurion and his detachment, watching over Jesus, saw the earthquake and all that took place, they were filled with awe and said, 'Truly, this was the Son of God!'