Don't cross God!

Saturday, August 9, 2014

Devotions: Ps 87, 90, 136; Jdg 9:22-25, 50-57; Acts 4:32-5:11; Jn 2:13-25

Jerusalem, God's holy city, stands on the mountains of the holy land. It is a distinction to be born, to live, and to die there, the wellspring of song and dance, of joy and ecstatic worship. Moses wrote: YHWH, You Are our dwelling place, God everlasting. A thousand years are a moment before You; we mortals are dust on Your scales, shadows in Your eternal light—our pittance of 70 or 80 years is spent almost before we can register the passage of time. So have pity on us, Lord; make us glad as many days as we have suffered and struggled; manifest Your works to Your servants, and establish the work of our hands in Your service, I pray. So I thank the Lord God, for His steadfast love endures forever—God of gods, Lord of lords, Worker of wonders, Master and Maker of all that is. He has remembered me in my low estate, rescued me from countless enemies, fed and sheltered and clothed me all my meager days. Thanks to the God of heaven and earth, Whose steadfast love endures for ever. 

Abimelech, the son of Gideon's concubine, ruled over Israel for three years. God sent an evil spirit between Abimelech and the men of Shechem, all of whom had conspired to kill Gideon's legitimate sons, seventy in number. The Shechemites began marauding and robbing those who passed through the mountain paths. Gaal, son of Ebed, became the strong man in Shechem. He led a harvest festival where they reviled Abimelech, and set up Gaal as a rival king. The city ruler Zebul took offense and sent word of the revolt to Abimelech. He and his forces came by night to besiege Shechem. Seeing Abimelech's forces approach, Zebul bated Gaal to march out to make good on his boasts of superiority to Abimelech. Abimelech defeated Gaal and banished him and his followers from Shechem. Abimelech and his troops slaughtered the followers of Gaal. Then he leveled the city and killed all its inhabitants, burning a thousand people who had taken refuge in the city tower. Next, Abimelech besieged and overthrew Thebez; again, the survivors took refuge in the city tower, and when Abimelech approached to set the tower on fire, as he had done in Shechem, a women threw down a millstone that crushed his skull. Abimelech had his squire run him through, that he should not die at the hand of a woman—and so God requited the crimes of Abimelech and Jotham's curse was fulfilled against Abimelech and the treachery of the Shechemites. 

Among the early Christians in Jerusalem, there was harmony and all things were held in common. The apostles worked great acts of grace and healing. There were no needy among them; those who had property sold it and laid the proceeds at the apostles' feet, and they gave to all who had need. One of these benefactors was Joseph, a Cypriot Levite, whom the disciples called Barnabas—the son of encouragement. But another would-be donor, Ananias, and his wife Sapphira, tried to defraud the Lord: they sold some property, but withheld some of the money, giving the remainder to the apostles as charity, claiming it was the entire amount. Peter confronted Ananias: 'You have not lied to men but to God.' And the man fell dead and was carried out and buried. Later, his wife arrived, and the scene was repeated. And great fear came upon the whole church and all who heard these things.

As Passover approached, Jesus visited the Jerusalem Temple, finding the courts clogged by those selling livestock for sacrifices, and money-changers. He made a whip of cords and drove out the vendors and livestock, pouring out the coins of the money-changers and overturning their tables. Witnessing this, His disciples recalled the words of Ps 69: 'Zeal for Your house will consume Me.' Jesus was enacting this Scripture. The Jewish authorities demanded a sign to support Jesus' actions; He responded, 'Destroy this temple, and I will raise it up in three days.' They thought he meant the temple building, which had taken 46 years to construct. But He spoke of His own body, and again, the disciples recalled this after His resurrection; and they put their faith in Jesus and in the scriptures that referred to Him. Many who witnessed His actions put faith in Jesus, but He did not entrust Himself to them, knowing what is in human character.