God sovereignly sustains and stretches us

Saturday, March 15, 2014 Devotions: Ps 55, 138, 139; Gen 41:1-13; 1 Cor 4:1-7; Mk 2:23-3:6 Lord, hear my prayer and accept my supplication. I am overcome by my trouble, made distraught by dissonance from the evil one and oppression by the wicked. They bring me trouble and hate me. My heart is in anguish; I tremble in weakness and discouragement. I'd love to run away—that has been one of my habitual responses to challenge. But I want to stand my ground now, Lord. Destroy their plans; confuse their communication. I'm taunted by so-called friends, my peers. So I turn to You, God, alone. I know You hear and answer in equity, mercy and love. I cast my burden on the Lord, as Jesus directed; He will sustain me, and He will cast down my enemies. Lord, I thank You with my whole heart, and praise Your holy Name. Great is YHWH's glory! Though I walk through troubles, God preserves my life; His right hand delivers me. Hold me fast, Lord, in Your steadfast love; do not forsake the work of Your hands! You have searched me; You know me intimately. I cannot escape You, even if I wanted to—and I don't want to. You made me; You shaped me; You have sustained me and protected me. Kill the wicked; preserve the godly, and let me watch as You work. God enabled Joseph to interpret Pharaoh's dreams, and thus put Joseph in position to lead Egypt, to save God's people, and to sustain the genetic line of the coming Messiah. He did this through Pharaoh's wine-tasting butler, for whom Joseph had interpreted a dream while they were in prison together. God works in unfathomable ways, and in every circumstance. So I will praise Him and trust Him, and (God helping me) I will obey Him today. God's people are His servants, and stewards of His mysteries. We must be trustworthy; and God alone is our Judge—we cannot even judge ourselves rightly. So let us withhold our judgments and critical opinions of others. Leave revelation and judgment to God, the only One Who Is competent for those matters. All we are and all we have comes from the Lord, and is subject to His sovereign will. One Sabbath, Jesus and His companions were walking through grain fields. His hungry disciples plucked gran and ate it. Some Pharisees, seeing this, challenged Jesus. And He responded by asking them to recall how King David and his companions ate the showbread from the temple when in need. He concluded: 'The Sabbath was made for humankind, not humankind for the Sabbath. So the Son of man is Lord even of the Sabbath.' By implication, those who are serving Jesus may act freely as He directs. Jesus entered a synagogue, and there was a man there who had a withered hand. His critics watched to see if Jesus would heal the man on the Sabbath—which act they considered an offense against the Torah. Jesus called the man forward, and addressed the critics: 'Is it lawful on the Sabbath to do good, or to do harm? To save life, or to kill?' They did not reply. Angry and grieved at their hardness of heart, Jesus said to the man, 'Stretch out your hand.' He did so, and the hand was fully restored. The Pharisees went out and immediately held counsel with the Herodians, conspiring against Jesus and making plans to destroy Him.