Bow to the Holy One

Thursday, December 16, 2010
Devotions: Ps 33, 50; Isa 9:18-10:4; 2 Pet 2:10b-16; Mt 3:1-12

It befits the upright to praise and rejoice in YHWH our Lord. His word is straight and true, and all He does, God does faithfully. He loves righteousness and justice; the universe is full of YHWH's steadfast love. His word made all the worlds; let all creation fear YHWH and stand in awe of Him. He brings the counsels of nations to nought, but His own counsels stand immovable forever. Blessed are those whose god is YHWH, the people He has chosen as His inheritance. God's eye watches over those who revere Him, who hope in His steadfast love. Our souls wait upon our Lord, our Help and Shield. My heart is glad in You, my Lord, because I trust Your holy name. Rest Your love on me as I hope in You! God shines forth from Zion; He is a consuming Fire. He needs nothing from us, but asks only our faithful service and trust. Give Him thanks and praise, and obey His words and will, and God will deliver and glorify us in return. God prohibits the wicked from reciting His statutes and covenant. Do not forget or neglect the living God, for He honors and saves those who bring Him thanks and follow His commandments.

Wickedness chars the land and the people, and brings God's horrible judgment. His anger is terrible, and His hand cannot be opposed. Woe to all who increase iniquity. Support the needy; protect the powerless; give justice to God's people—especially the widows and orphans. None can rescue from the hand of YHWH; do not arouse His wrath!

Peter excoriates the bold and willful who do not fear to revile the glorious ones of God; His mighty angels do not presume to pronounce reviling judgments before the Lord. Such judgment is His province alone. Those who presume to revile in matters they do not grasp will be destroyed. They are blots and blemishes, dissolute, adulterous, insatiable for sin. They entic unsteady souls and train their hearts for greed. They are accursed children, who have forsake the right way and have gone astray, following the errors and sins of Balaam, false prophet who loved gain from wrongdoing, but was rebuked for his transgression, when his own donkey spoke in human voice to restrain the prophet's madness.

John the Baptizer preached in the Judean wilderness: 'Repent, for heaven's kingdom is at hand!' John was the one Isaiah had written about: 'The voice of one crying in the wilderness: "Prepare the Lord's way, and make His paths straight."' John dressed like Elijah: a garment of came's hair with a leather belt, and a diet of locusts and wild honey. People went out to him from Jerusalem and all Judea and all the region around the Jordan, and they were baptized by John in the river Jordan, confessing their sins. When John saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming for baptism, he reviled them: 'You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Bear fruit fitting for repentance, and do not presume to say to y ourselves, "We have Abraham as our father," for I tell you that God is able from these desert stones to raise up children to Abraham. At this very moment, the axes is laid to the root of the trees; and every tree that does not bear good fruit is hewn down and thrown into the fire. I baptize you in water for repentance; but He Who is coming after me is mightier than I. I am not worthy to carry His sandals! And He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire. For His winnowing fork is in His hand, and He will clear His threshing floor and gather His wheat into the granary and will burn the chaff with unquenchable fire.'