Serving Holy God

Wednesday, June 10, 2015
Devotions: Ps 72; 119:73-96 ; Deut 31:30-32:14; 2 Cor 11:21b-33; Lk 19:11-27

Give Your justice to Your kings and magistrates, Lord!  Defend the poor and prosper the righteous.  May they provide what Your people need, and bring Your peace.  Deliver the poor and needy, Lord.  Keep Your people safe, sheltered, fed and secure.  May Your name endure forever in our midst, and may mortals bless ourselves and one another by Your name.  Blessed be YHWH, God and Master of Israel, blessed forever!

Moses began his closing sermon to the Israelites: ' Listen, heavens and earth: hear all that I will say.  May my teaching fall like gentle showers on the thirsty plants.  I will proclaim YHWH's name!  Ascribe greatness to our God!  The Rock, His work is perfect; all His ways are justice.  He is pure in faithfulness, without iniquity.  But mortals are no longer His children, due to our sinfulness; we have dealt corruptly with the Holy One; we are a perverse and crooked generation.  Foolish, senseless people: is it thus you requite the Lord?  Is He not your Father, your Creator, Who has made and established you?  Ask anyone among our community elders.  When the Most High gave their inheritance to the various nations, He separated the tribes and clans among mortals, and set aside Jacob's offspring as His chosen people and special heritage.  God found this people in a desert, a howling wilderness.  He embraced and cared for us, kept us as the apple of His eye.  He cares for us as an eagle protects her fledglings, tossing them from the nest, but bearing them up on her wings.  God provided all we needed in the wilderness, water and honey from the Rock, manna from heaven, curds and milk from our herds and flocks, fine wheat and sweet grapes and wine.'

Paul wrote to the Corinthians, seeking to wean them from the inimical influence of imposters: 'You bear with those who enslave you, prey upon you, insult you, put on airs among you--I must say, to my shame, I have been too weak for that!  But I can boast with them, measure for measure.  Are they Hebrews?  So am I.  Are they Abraham's descendants?  Me, too!  Are they serving Christ?  I have done greater service, though I hate ranting madly like this.  I have done far greater labors, served far more imprisonments, enduring countless beatings and been near death many times.  Five times, the Jews imposed upon me the 39 lashes; three times, I was beaten with rods; once I was stoned.  I have been shipwrecked three times; I was adrift at sea a night and a day.  I have been constantly on the move, in danger from rivers, from robbers, from Jews and Gentiles alike, in cities and in wilderness, on sea and on land.  False brothers have hounded me; I've worked to exhaustion, through many a sleepless night, in hunger and thirst, without food, freezing and exposed with no adequate clothing or shelter.  Apart from all this is the daily anxiety I have for all the churches--when believers are weak, I am, too; when believers fall, I am deeply indignant.  I will boast, then, of my weaknesses.  The God and Father of the Lord Jesus knows that I am not lying.  At Damascus, the governor under King Aretas had the city guarded in order to seize me, but believing friends let me down in a basket from a window in the wall, and so I escaped his clutches. 

Jesus told this parable to disciples who supposed that God's kingdom on earth would be established immediately:  'A noble man traveled far abroad to receive a kingdom, and then to return.  He called ten servants and gave ten minas of money, one to each, and instructed them to use the money in trade until his return.  As it turned out, his citizens hated their lord; they sent an embassy after him to testify, "We don not want this man to rule over us!"  When he returned, having received the kingdom, he commanded the servant he had funded to be called to him, so he could know the results of their trading.  The first came and told  him, "Lord, your mina has made ten minas more!'  The master replied, "Well done, good servant!  Because you have been faithful in very little, you shall have authority over ten cities."  The second servant came in saying, "Lord, your pound has made five more."  And the master gave him authority over five cities.  A third servant arrived saying, "Lord, here is your mina.  I kept it aside in a napkin; I was afraid of you, knowing that you area severe man, taking up what you did not lay down, reaping what you have not sown."  The master answered, "I will condemn you with your own words, wicked servant!  You know my character and habits--so why didn't you put my money into the bank, where it would earn me interest when I collected it?"  Then the master directed those standing by, 'Take the mina from this man and give it to the man who earned ten minas.  For I tell you: to every one who has, more will be given; but to those who have not, even the pittance they have will be taken from them.  And now, for these enemies of mine who did not want me reigning over them:  bring them here and slay them before me.'"