Saturday,
June 21, 2014
Devotions:
Ps 87, 90, 136; Num 13:31-14:25; Gal 6:1-10; Mt 19:1-12
God's
holy city stands around Mount Moriah; how God loves Jerusalem! It's
an honor to be born and to live and to die in Jerusalem, the
wellspring of song and dance, of faith and hope and love. Moses
wrote: Lord, You have been our dwelling place in all generations.
You made the world, the galaxies, the sentient beings. You turn us
mortals back to dust; and a thousand of our years are like a moment
in your sight. We are consumed by Your holy wrath; we blanch as Your
light discloses our secret sins. We live 70 years, or perhaps eighty
if we're especially robust, but our lifespan is toil and trouble, and
soon flown away. So, Lord: teach us to number our days rightly.
Make us glad as many days as we have languished; manifest Yourself
and Your works to our feeble minds and senses; and establish the work
of our hands according to Your righteousness, I pray. Let us thank
YHWH, for He Is good; His steadfast love endures forever. He alone
works great wonders; He made all that exists; He gave life to all
life forms; He chose and delivered His people from bondage in Egypt;
He overthrew Pharaoh and the gods of Egypt; He cleared space for His
people in Canaan. He remembers us in our low estate; He feeds,
clothes, shelters and redeems us. Give thanks to the God of heaven,
for His steadfast love endures forever.
The
spies Moses had sent into Canaan at God's behest were unevenly
divided about the Israelites' prospects of success: ten said the
current residents and their cities were too formidable--'It is a land
that devours inhabitants; we saw men of great stature—Nephilim; we
seemed to ourselves and to them as grasshoppers.' The people
despaired at this report and murmured against Moses and Aaron (and
thereby, against YHWH), expressing sorrow that God had brought them
out of Egypt, and wishing they could return to the oppression and
slavery there, or that they would perish in the wilderness, rather
than in battle. They said they wanted a leader appointed to conduct
them back to Egypt. Then Caleb and Joshua spoke up: 'It is an
exceedingly good land, and if YHWH delights in us and brings us
there, we will prosper. Don't rebel against the Lord; and don't fear
the people of the land; their protection is removed from them; the
Lord is with us; don't be afraid of them.' But the congregation
refused to listen, and suggested that Caleb and Joshua should be
stoned. Then YHWH's glory appeared at the tent of meeting, so
everyone could see. And YHWH spoke to Moses: 'How long will this
people despise Me? How long will they not believe in Me, despite all
the signs of My power and care for them? I will strike them with a
pestilence and disinherit them, and I will start with you and make a
greater and mightier nation than this rabble.' But Moses interceded;
he told God that the Egyptians and the people of Canaan would say
that YHWH was not capable of fulfilling His mission for His chosen
people. Then Moses said, 'Now I pray You, let Your mighty power be
manifest, as You have said, “YHWH is slow to anger and abounding in
steadfast love, forgiving iniquity and transgression, but not
clearing the guilty, visiting iniquity of forbears on families to the
third and fourth generations.” Lord, pardon the iniquity of this
people, I pray You, according to the greatness of Your steadfast
love, and Your mercy to these people, from Egypt to this moment.'
And YHWH replied, 'I have pardoned, as you have asked; but truly, as
I live, and as all the earth will be filled with My glory, none of
these faithless ones will see the land I swore to give to their
ancestors—except Caleb will go in [with you and Joshua], and your
descendants will possess the land of promise. Now turn around and
head back into the wilderness toward the Red Sea.'
Paul
wrote to the Galatian believers: If one of you is overtaken in
trespass, those who are spiritual should restore the offender in a
spirit of gentleness. Look to yourselves, lest you be tempted as
well. Bear one another's burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ.
If anybody thinks they are something special, when they are nothing
special, they deceive themselves. Let each person test his own work;
then he can boast based on his own accomplishments, not on the work
of his neighbors. For each person has their own load to carry,
[their own cross to bear]. Let those who learn share the fruits with
those who teach them the good word. Don't be deceived: God is not
mocked; what one sows, that is what one reaps. One who sows to his
on flesh will reap corruption from the flesh. But one who sows to
the Spirit from the Spirit will reap eternal life. Let us not become
weary in doing good, for at the proper time, we will reap a harvest
if we do not give up. Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do
good to all people, especially to those who belong to the family of
believers.
Jesus
moved to the Trans-Jordan and multitudes followed Him; there, He
taught and healed them. Pharisees probed Jesus with the question:
'Is it lawful to divorce one's wife for any cause?' Jesus answered:
Haven't you read that the One Who made mortals made them male and
female? And God said, 'For this reason a man shall leave his parents
and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.' So:
what God has joined together, let mortals not put asunder.' The
Pharisees persisted: 'Well, then, why did Moses command that one
divorce his wife by giving her a certificate of divorce and then to
put her away?' Jesus replied, 'Moses let you divorce as a concession
to your hard hearts; but that's not the way it was from God's acts of
creation. Now I tell you: whoever divorces his wife except for her
unchastity and then remarries, that man is committing adultery.'
This alarmed even Jesus's disciples; they said, 'If that's how it is,
it is not expedient to marry.' And Jesus told them, 'Not everyone
can apply this teaching—only those called to chastity. Some eunuchs
are born so; mortals castrate others and make them eunuchs; and a few
renounce their sexuality for sake of the kingdom of heaven. Let
those receive this who are able to receive it!'
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