They perish who oppose God

Thursday, September 23, 2010

Devotions: Ps 83, 85, 86; Esth 7:1-10; Acts 19:11-20; Lk 4:14-30

Speak, Lord! Do not be still; Your enemies are in tumult, opposing Your covenant. Destroy them who seem to possess the pastures of God! Blow them away like chaff; let Your fire consume them; terrify them with Your tempest. Put them to shame—let them know that You alone are God Most High over all creation! Forgive my iniquity, Lord; restore me again, God of my salvation. Let me hear what God the Lord will say; He will speak peace to His people. How I fear You, holy Lord; let Your glory return and bless You people. Let my faith spring up to greet Your righteousness. Gladden my soul, Father, and hear my supplication. I call on You in the day of my trouble. There is no god but God; there is no other Wonder Worker than my God! Teach me Your way, O Lord, that I may walk in Your truth; unite my heart to fear Your name. And I give thanks to You, O YHWH my God, with my whole heart, and I will glorify Your name. Forgive, save, and bless me, I pray!

King Ahasuerus and Haman dined with Queen Esther for the second consecutive day. Again the king asked what Esther's petition was, and promised to give anything, 'up to half of my kingdom.' She answered, 'If I have found favor in your sight, O king, let my life be given me at my petition, and my people at my request. For we are sold, I and my people, to be destroyed, to be killed and annihilated. If we had simply been sold as slaves, I would have held my peace; for our affliction is not to be compared with the loss to the king.' Then King Ahasuerus asked Esther, 'Who is he, and where is he, that would presume to do this?' Esther answered, 'A foe and enemy: this wicked Haman!' Then Haman was in terror before the king and queen. The king rose in a great wrath and went into the palace garden. Haman remained, to beg for his life from Queen Esther, for he saw that the king was planning evil against him. As the king returned, he saw Haman falling on the couch where Esther was; and the king said, 'Will he even assault the queen in my very presence, in my own house?' As the words left the king's mouth, his attendants covered Haman's face. One of the eunuchs, named Harbonna, said, 'It is fitting that the gallows which Haman prepared for Mordechai, whose word saved the king, is standing at Haman's house, fifty cubits high!' And the king said, 'Hang him on that!' So they hanged Haman on the gallows which he had built to kill Mordechai. And the king's anger was abated.

God did wonderful things through Paul, as he continued his work in Ephesus. Handkerchiefs or aprons he had used were carried to the sick, and diseases left them and evil spirits came out of them. Some of the itinerant Jewish exorcists tried to cast out demons by pronoucing the name of the Lord Jesus over the possessed, saying, 'I adjure you by the Jesus whom Paul preaches.' Seven sons of Sceva, a Jewish high priest, were doing this. But the evil spirit responded to them, 'Jesus I know and Paul I know; but who are you?' And the possessed man leaped on them, overpowered them all, and assaulted them, so that they fled from the house naked and wounded. All this became known to all Ephesians, Jews and Greeks, and fear fell on them all; and the name of the Lord Jesus was extolled. Many who now believed came confessing and divulging their evil practices. A number of those who had practiced magic brought their scrolls together and burned them—a trove valued at 50,000 pieces of silver. So the word of the Lord grew and prevailed mightily.

After Jesus defeated Satan's temptations, He returned in the power of the Spirit to Galilee. And word about Him spread throughout the surrounding country. He taught in their synagogues, and was glorified by all. He came to Nazareth, where He was raised, and went into the synagogue on the Sabbath. He stood up to read, and the scroll of Isaiah was given to Jesus. He opened the scroll and read: 'The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, because He has anointed Me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent Me to proclaim release to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, to proclaiim the acceptable year of the Lord.' Jesus closed the scroll, returned it to the attendant, and sat down to teach. All eyes in the synagogue were on Him. He began, 'Today, this scripture has been fulfilled in Your hearing.' And all spoke well of Him, and wondered at the gracious words that came from His mouth. And they asked, 'Isn't this Joseph's son?' And Jesus said, 'Doubtless you will quote to me the proverb that says, "Physican, heal yourself; what we have heard you did at Capernaum, do here also in your own country.'" And He said, 'Truly I say to you, no prophet is acceptable in his own country. But I tell you the truth: there were manyu widows in Israel in Elijah's day—yet Elijah was sent to none of them, but to a widow in Zarephath in the land of Sidon. There were many lepers in Israel in Elisha's time, but none of them were cleansed—only Naaman the Syrian.' When the congregation heard this, they were filled with wrath. They rose up and put Jesus out of the city, leading Him to the brow of the hill on which the city was built, intending to throw Him down headlong to His death. But passing through their midst, Jesus went away unharmed.