Saturday, August 23, 2014

Passing shadow, eternal reality

Saturday, August 23, 2014
Devotions: Ps 104, 137:1-6; 144; Jb 3:1-26; Acts 9:10-19a; Jn 6:41-51

Let my soul bless YHWH: You Are great, Lord, clothed with honor and majesty, arrayed in light pure and holy. Your messengers are aflame; the spirits serve You, Maker and Master of all that is. All life springs from You. How manifold are Your works, Wise God. May my meditation be pleasing before You; may Your glory endure forever, awesome God! Your steadfast love endures forever, God of gods, Lord of lords, Worker of miracles, Creator of all that exists. You Are my Rock and Fortress, Shield and Stay. We mortals are dust before You; we pass away like shadows, empty of substance, a shimmer amid Your substantial creation. I will sing a new song to You. Bless my children, Lord; prosper the works of my flesh and my mind. Happy are all people whose God is YHWH!

Job, in agony, cursed the very day of his own birth--'let it be darkness, clouded, terror-filled, dawnless. Why was I born, if only to suffer so deeply? I would be at peace now if I had simply perished when I was born. Why give me light, if only to see my shame and sorrow more clearly? I long for death, but it does not come; I can see clearly that no path is open before me. I have no rest, only trouble!

In Damascus lived a Christian named Ananias. The Lord spoke to him in a vision: 'Rise and go to Straight Street; ask in the house of Judas for a man called Saul from Tarsus. He is seeing, and he has seen you come and lay hands on him so that he may receive his sight.' Ananias objected, but the Lord told him, 'Go, for he is My chosen instrument, to carry My name before the Gentiles and kings and the sons of Israel; I will show him how much he must suffer for the sake of My name.' So Ananias did as the Lord bid him; he found Saul and laid hands on him with these words: 'Brother Saul, the Lord Jesus Who appeared to you on the road that you followed here has sent me that you may regain your sight and be filled with the Holy Spirit.' Immediately, something like scales fell from Saul's eyes, and he could see again. He rose, was baptized, and received some food and was strengthened. 

The Jews murmured against Jesus when they heard Him say, 'I Am the bread of life which came down from heaven.' They believed He was Joseph's son, from Nazareth in Galilee; they believed they knew whose son He Is. But Jesus said to them, 'Do not murmur among yourselves. No one can come to Me unless the Father Who sent Me draws them; and I will raise them up at the last day. The prophets wrote that “they shall all be taught by God.” Everyone who has learned from the Father comes to Me. No one has seen God the Father except Him Who comes from God. I tell you the truth: whoever believes this has eternal life. I Am the bread of life. Your ancestors ate manna in the wilderness, and yet they died. What is here before you is bread come down from heaven, so that a person may eat it and never die. I Am the living bread which came down from heaven; if people eat this bread, they will live forever; and the bread I give for the life of the world is My own flesh.'

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