He does all things well

Monday-Tuesday, February 2-3

Devotions: Ps 56, 57, 61, 62, 64, 68; Isa 51:17-23; 52:1-12; Gal 4:1-20; Mk 7:24-8:10

God, preserve me from the trampling of enemies and boors; I put all my trust in You alone. Some are just inconsiderate; others seek with malice to harm or destroy me. But You, Lord, keep track of my troubles; you keep my tears in a bottle, and I know that God is for me. So I will trust You, and walk in Your ways while I live. Let God Most High fulfill His purpose for me! YHWH, my heart is steadfast, by Your grace; let Your glory be over all the earth. Lead me to the Rock that is far above me; be my Refuge, my strong Tower, as I live as unto the Lord. My soul thirsts and only God can satisfy me. Let enemies do their worst, for my hope is in the Eternal One. Let all trust in God alone; set no store by mortals. Put no trust in greed or robbery. Lord, hide me from the wrath of the ungodly. I leave them to Your wrath and judgment. Let the righteous rejoice in YHWH; let His people exalt and glorify our God. Arise, O Lord, and smite Your enemies. Let the nations quail in fear before Your majesty and might. Blessed be YHWH, Who daily bears us up. He Is my salvation, my Deliverer from death. God protects the weak an defenseless; He Is Father to the orphan and Husband to the widow. Let us bow before His glory and praise Him in the great assembly. Ascribe all power and virtue to God alone, the Almighty, the Blessed One!

Let Jerusalem rouse herself and stand up before the Lord. Let the afflicted repent before the Holy One. Submitted to Him, we will be delivered from our shame and hardship. So now, Zion, awake and clothe yourself in beauty. Shake off the dust of oppression and despair. Our Redeemer has come, and we are delivered! How beautiful are they who bring the good tidings of God's victory! Let the watchmen rejoice, for Dawn approaches; the Light has come to us. Let the desert sing, and the mountains echo His praises. YHWH has bared His holy arm and set right what had been undone. Prosperity awaits the faithful; and our God shall startle many nations; He will shut the mouths of the arrogant and astonish the doubters. They will witness what they have not believed, and understand what they had never noticed. 

Paul wrote that those who are heirs of the promises and covenants of God serve a childhood under the stewardship of God's trustees. As children, we are enslaved to the elemental spirits of the cosmos. But when God's time was fulfilled, He sent His only Son, born of a woman and under the Law, to redeem those languishing under the Law, so that we might be adopted as sons into God's household. Therefore, God has sent His Spirit into our hearts, crying 'Abba! Father!' So through God we are no longer slaves but sons, and therefore heirs. When we did not know God, we were in bondage to beings that are not deities; but now we have come to know the true God, or to be known by God. So how can we turn back to weak and beggarly elemental spirits? How can we turn from holy freedom to damned slavery? Paul begged: Become as I am. You know that I preached to you because of bodily defect that prevented fulfilling my previous intentions. And though my ailment inconvenienced you, you did not scorn or despise me, but received me as God's messenger, as if I were he Messiah Jesus Himself. So where did all your joy and satisfaction go? At that time, you'd have plucked out your own eyes to give me better sight. Have I now become your enemy simply for telling you the truth? You prefer liars, who seek to mislead you and exclude you from God's household, just so they'll be exalted. Little children, once more I am in travail, as a mother screams in labor, seeking to see that Christ is formed in and among you! I miss being there, because I am so perplexed and uncertain how to help you. I long to change my tone and share with you in the joy and love of Christ. 

Jesus went into the region of Tyre and Sidon. He settled into a house there, seeking solitude. But immediately a Syrophoenician woman came to Him; she had a daughter who was possessed by an unclean spirit. She begged Jesus to cast the demon out of her daughter. First, Jesus said, 'Let the children be fed first; it is not right to take the children's bread and throw it to the dogs.' But the woman was not deterred: 'Yes, Lord; yet even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from the children's table.' And He said 'For this saying, you may go your way: the demon has left your daughter.' And she went home, and found the child lying in bed, and the demon was gone! From there, Jesus headed down to the Decapolis. And people there brought to Him a man who was deaf and who had a speech impediment. Jesus took the man aside, away from the multitude; He put His hands into the man's ears; He spat and touched the man's tongue; and looking up to heaven, Jesus sighed, then said to the man, 'Ephphatha', which means be opened! And the man's ears were opened, his tongue was released, and he could hear and speak clearly. Jesus charged everyone witnessing this to say nothing, but they proclaimed it all the more zealously. Everyone was astonished: 'He does all things well; He even makes the deaf hear and the dumb speak!' A great crowd gathered to Jesus. They had nothing to eat. And Jesus called His disciples to Him and said, 'I have compassion on this crowd; they have been with Me for three days, and they have no food. If I send them away hungry, they will faint on the way. Some have come a great distance.' The disciples answered, 'Lord, how can somone feed all these people here in the desert?' Jesus asked them, 'How many loaves have you?' They answered, 'Seven.' So He commanded that the crowd be seated on the ground; He took the seven loaves, gave thanks, and divided them among His disciples to set the food before the crowd. They also had a few fish, which He likewise blessed and divided for distribution. And all the people ate and were satisfied—they numbered about 4000—and the disciples took up the leftovers, seven baskets full!  Jesus dismissed the crowd, then immediately got into a boat with His disciples and departed to the district of Dalmanutha.