'What you see next will deepen your faith'

Friday and Saturday, April 15 and 16, 2011

Devotions: Ps 22, 42, 43, 95, 137:1-6, 141, 143, 144; Jer 29:1-13; 31:27-34; Rom 11:13-36; Jn 11:1-44.

Jesus cried out from the cross just as David did in Psalm 22: 'Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani?' My God, why have You forsaken Me? I cry out to You day after day, but You are enthroned on the praises of Israel. You saved our ancestors when they cried to You for mercy. I am like a worm, not like a man in Your image, scorned by all the mortals around me. They titter at me—He trusted YHWH, so let YHWH save him. Let God deliver him, since he delights in God. You brought me into the world, and cared for me from my mother's womb; now, I need You more than ever! I am surrounded, attacked, powerless, dying! These dogs pierce my hands and feet and side; they divide my clothing among them and gamble over my paltry possessions. Save me, God, and let me tell of Your wonders; let those who need You hear of You and wonder! My praise is all for You, my God! As the deer longs for flowing streams, my soul longs for God. I'm challenged at every side by skeptics who doubt God and doubt my faith in Him. But I ask: soul, why are you downcast and disquieted within me? Deep calls to deep; YHWH commands His steadfast love, and a prayer to God is my constant companion. Let God vindicate me as a testiment to His love and power. Lord, You are the God in Whom I take refuge. Send out Your light and truth. Let us sing to YHWH, a joyful noise to our Rock. Let us come to Him with thanksgiving and songs of praise. He is Maker and Master and we are His flock. Let God deliver His people, and let His wrath fall on those who oppress God's people! My eyes ever look to You, my God. Let the wicked fall into their own nets, and help me escape! I cry to You, O God; consider me righteous and deal bountifully with me. Answer my prayers, and guide me in a level pathway for Your glory. Blessed is YHWH my Rock, Who trains my hands for battle. Let me sing a new song to You, O God. Happy are all whose God is YHWH!

The princes and the people replied to the priests and prophets: this man does not deserve to die; he has spoken to us in the Name of YHWH our God. Certain elders addressed the assembly: Micah of Moresheth prophesied in the days of Hezekiah king of Judah; he said, 'This is what YHWH says: Zion will be plowed like a field; Jerusalem will become a rubble heap, and Mount Zion will become a wooded height.' And did Hezekiah slay Micah? Didn't he fear God and beg His favor and forgiveness? And didn't YHWH change His mind and forego the evil He had intended against them? Unless we do the same now, we are about to bring great evil down on ourselves. Jeremiah sent word to the elders of the exiles, the priests, prophets and leaders taken into exile by Nebuchadnezzar, after King Jeconiah and the royal party had departed from Jerusalem. His letter said: YHWH Sabaoth, God of Israel, tells you to build houses an dlive in them; plant gardens and eatht heir produce. Take wives for your sons and give your daughters in marriage, that they may bear offspring during the exile. Seek the welfare of the place I have put you in exile; pray to the Lord on its behalf, for your welfare depends on the welfare of the place of your exile. Don't let your prophets and deviners deceive you; I did not send them, says YHWH. When seventy years are completed, I will visit you and bring you back to your homeland. For I know My plans for you, to do you good and not evil, to give you a future and a hope. Then you will call on Me and I will answer. You will seek Me and find Me, when you seek Me with all your heart; I will be found by you, says YHWH, and I will restore your fortunes and gather you from all the places where I have driven you and bring you back to the place from which you are exiled. Behold, the days are coming when I will sow the houses of Israel and Judah with the seed of man and beast, and I will build and fructify them. I will make a new covenant with the houses of Israel and Judah, to put My law in them and to write it on their hearts. I will be their God and they will be My people. Neighbor will not need to teach neighbor, for all shall know Me, from the greatest to the least; for I will forgive their iniquity and remember their sin no more, says YHWH.

 

Paul wrote: I magnify my mission to the Gentiles in part to make my fellow Jews jealous. I want them saved, too! If their rejection meant reconciliation for the world, what will their acceptance signify? Life from the dead! If the leaven is holy, the whole ball of dough is holy; if the root is holy, all the branches are holy as well. If some native branches were broken off so that you wild shoots could be grafted in, don't boast about being branches of the fruitful tree. It's the root that supports you, not you who support it. It's true that branches were broken off to make a place for you, but stand in awe. God plays no favorites. Note His kindness and severity. Now continue in His kindness, lest you be cut off, too. God can graft the Jews in again, and how easily that graft would take. God allowed a part of Israel to be hardened for a time, so that you Gentiles would have opportunity to come into God's family. But His plan is to save all of Israel as well. Scriptures say, 'The Deliverer with come from Zion and banish ungodliness from Jacob; this will be My covenant with them, when I take away their sins.' They became enemies of God for your sake, as the gospel recounts; but God loves them because of the patriarchs. God's gifts and call are irrevocable; and He shows mercy to all! How deep are God's riches and wisdom and knowledge! From Him and through Him and to Him are all things. To God be glory for ever. Amen!

John summarizes the story of Jesus raising Lazarus from death. Lazarus of Bethany, friend of Jesus and brother of Mary and Martha, fell deathly sick. The sisters sent messages of distress to Jesus, but He said, 'This illness is not unto death; it is for God's glory, so that the Son of God may be glorified through it.' So He stayed where He was for two days after the message arrived, then He told His disciples, 'We're headed back to Judea.' They objected that the Jews there were plotting to kill Jesus. He answered, 'There are twelve hours of light each day; when one walks in the light, he doesn't stumble. But when one tries to walk in the dark, he stumbles. He told them, 'Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep, and I Am going to wake him up.' They misunderstood, and said, 'Lord, if he has fallen asleep, he will heal.' But Jesus explained: 'Lazarus is dead; and for your sake, I Am glad that I was not there. What you see next will deepen your faith. So let us go to him.' Thomas Didymus said, 'Let's go with Him, that we may die with Him!' When Jesus came to their home in Bethany, Lazarus had been in the tomb four days already. Many Jews had come to the their home from Jerusalem, two miles away, to console the sisters. When Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went out to meet Hm, and said to Jesus, "Lord, if You had been here, my brother would not have died. And even now, I know that God will give you whatever you say. And Jesus said to Martha, 'Your brother will rise again.' Martha answered, 'I know he will arise again in the resurrection at the last day.' Jesus said to her, 'I Am the resurrection and the life; whoever believes in me, though he should die, yet he will live. And whoever lives and believes in Me will never die. Do you believe this?' And she said to him, 'Yes, Lord; I believe that you are the Messiah, the Son of God, He Who is coming into the world.' Martha went and called her sister Mary: 'The Teacher is here and is calling for you.' Mary hurried to meet Jesus. Many of the mourners followed her, thinking she was headed to the tomb to mourn. She came to Jesus and fell at His feet, saying, 'Lord, if You had been here, my brother would not have died.' Seeing her weeping, and those accompanying her also, Jesus was deeply moved in spirit and troubled. He asked, 'Where have you laid him?' They said to Him, 'Lord, come and see.' Jesus wept. Some of the Jews remarked, 'See how he loved Lazarus.' but others grumbled: 'Couldn't He, Who opened the eyes of the blind man, have kept Lazarus from dying?' Jesus, deeply moved, came to the tomb and said to the people there, 'Take away the stone.' Martha said, 'Lord, by this time, there will be a stench, for he has been buried four days.' Jesus replied, 'Did I not tell you that you would see God's glory, if you would believe?' So they took away the stone, and Jesus lifted His eyes to heaven and spoke: 'Father, I thank You that You have heard Me. I knew that You always hear Me, but I say this now for the benefit of those listening in, that they may believe that You sent Me.' Then, in a loud voice, Jesus cried, 'Lazarus, come out!' And the dead man came out, still bound hand and foot with bandages, and his face was wrapped in a cloth. Jesus said to the bystanders, 'Unbind him and let him go!'