Devotions: Ps 19, 40, 46, 49, 119:49-72; Deut 9:13-10:5; Heb 3:12-4:10; Jn 2:23-3:15
The creation suggests the glory of its Creator; nature is eloquent in praising our God! He established the cycles and balances of nature, and He watches over all He has made. YHWH's law is perfect; His testimony is sure, and He revives us and fills us with elation. God's commands are pure, His precepts are right, so our hearts rejoice and our eyes are clear and bright. Priceless is God's word, sweeter than honey, altogether righteous. Lord, keep me from presumptuous and foolish sins. Let my words and meditations please You, YHWH, my Rock and Redeemer. I am learning to abide, waiting patiently for YHWH to act in His time; He draws me up from the bog and sets me on a rock; He puts a new song in my heart. Many will see and trust our God. He needs no material sacrifice; what God wants is faith and faithfulness. Lord, I bow to You; pour out Your mercy upon me and deliver me, to Your honor. May all who seek You rejoice and be glad, YHWH. Great is the Lord! He is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. God is at the center of His creation, where a river gladdens the holy city of God; YHWH Sabaoth is with us, God is our refuge. Be still and know that I Am God, exalted among the nations, and exalted over all creation. Let all the world hear and understand: we have nothing to fear; no mortal can ransom himself or pay God for his deliverance; God has paid that ransom Himself, and He will receive me. So don't get excited or discouraged when some mortal becomes rich or powerful; only God's favor remains for ever. Lord, Your word brings me great comfort; Your statutes have been my song in the house of my pilgrimage. YHWH is my Portion, and I am content! I hurry to do Your will, and I am companion to all who fear You and keep Your precepts. Teach me good judgment and knowledge, for I believe in Your commands. You are good and do good. I value the blessings of my God much more than silver or gold!
YHWH had offered to destroy the people of Israel and to make a greater nation starting with Moses alone. But Moses' intercession turned aside YHWH's wrath against both the nation of Israel and against Aaron, who had made the golden calf idol for them. Again and again, Israel provoked YHWH to rage; they refused to take the land when YHWH opened it before them, and so God relented, and directed Moses to hew out a second pair of stone tablets, and to fashion an ark of wood to hold them. And YHWH again wrote on the tablets the 'Ten Words', and Moses again carried the tablets and commandments down Sinai to the camp. He put the tablets into the ark, and there they remained, as YHWH had directed.
Guard gainst an evil, unbelieving heart that would lead you away from the living God. Exhort one another continually, day by day, that none of your become hardened by sin. We share in the Messiah, if we can simply hold to our first confidence until the end: as was written, 'Today, when you hear His voice, do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion.' Who were they who received this? Those who left Egypt under Moses' leadership. God was provoked with those who sinned, and during forty years, they died in the wilderness. God saw to it that the disobedient never entered His rest. They were unable to enter due to unbelief. Therefore, since His offer of peace remains open to us, let us take care lest any of you be judged to have failed to reach it. Good news came to us as to them; but the message didn't avail for them because they had no faith with which to receive it. We who have believed enter that rest, just as God rested after the labors of creation. It remains for some to enter into His rest, and those who first heard God's good news failed to do so because of disobedience. So God has again set a certain day, 'Today,' saying through David 'Today, when you hear His voice, do not harden your hearts.' If Joshua had given them rest, God would not speak later about another day. So: there remains before us now a sabbath rest for the people of God. Whoever enters God's rest also ceases from his own labors, just as God rested from His.
Many in Jerusalem put faith in Jesus because they saw the signs and wonders He performed. But Jesus did not entrust Himself to them, because He knew all about mortals and needed no one to tell Him about humankind; He Himself knew what was in humanity. A Pharisee named Nicodemus, a ruler among the Jews, came to Jesus by night and said, 'Rabbi, we know that You are a Teacher sent from God; no one could do these signs You do unless God is with Him.' Jesus replied, 'Truly, truly I tell you, no one can see God's kingdom unless he is born anew.' Nicodemus questioned this: 'How can a man be born when he is old? He can't enter again into his mother's womb, can he?' Jesus answered, 'Truly, truly I tell you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter God's kingdom. What is born of flesh is flesh, and what is born of the Spirit is spirit. Don't marvel that I told you that you must be born anew. The wind blows wherever it wishes, and you hear its sound, but you cannot discern whence it comes or whither it goes. It's like that for people born of the Spirit.' Nicodemus asked, 'How can this be?' Jesus answered, 'Are you a teacher of Israel and you don't understand this? Truly, truly I say to you, We speak of what We know and bear witness to what We have seen; but you do not receive our testimony. If I have told you about earthly matters and you do not believe, how could you believe if I tell you heavenly matters? No one has ascended into heaven, but He Who descended form heaven, the Son of man. And just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of man be lifted up, that whoever believes in Him may have eternal life.'
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