Mercy, faith, redemption!

Friday, June 23, 2017 - Devotions: Ps 102; 107:1-32; Num 20:1-13; Rom 5:12-21; Mt 20:29-34

Lord, let my cry come before You; don't hide Yourself from me; listen and reply as I call out to You. My days pass away like smoke; my bones burn as if in a furnace; my heart faints, withered like grass.  I am outcast and downcast, like a vulture in the wilderness, an owl in wastelands.  I lie awake all night; enemies taunt me ceaselessly; my food tastes like ashes and my drink is mingled with my tears.  Your indignation devastates me, and I am forlorn.  But You, Lord, endure forever, enthroned, mighty, lauded.  Have pity on Zion, that the nations may fear YHWH, and people yet unborn may praise You.  God looked down from heaven; He heard the groans of prisoners facing death, and set them at liberty.  God has broken my strength, but He Is almighty.  Creation will perish, but the Creator abides forever.  The children of Your servants shall dwell secure, and their descendants shall remain established before You!  Let the Lord's redeemed declare it; give thanks to the Lord, for He Is good; His steadfast love endures forever.  He has brought us to Himself from all the ends of the earth.  Some wandered in deserts, and He brought them to safe cities.  He satisfies the thirsty and hungry!  Some languished in darkness and gloom, prisoners afflicted in irons, who had rebelled against God's word and spurned His wise counsel.  Their hearts were bowed in hard labor; they fell, and no one helped them stand.  But God heard their lament and brought them forth from darkness and broke their bonds asunder.  Let them thank YHWH for His steadfast love and mighty acts!  Some were sickened by sinful ways, afflicted in their iniquities.  They lost appetite for food and for life and neared the gates of death.  They cried to the Lord, and He delivered them from their distress.  He sent forth His word and healed them.  So let them also thank the Lord for His wonderful works; let them offer sacrifices of thanksgiving and tell of His deeds in songs of joy!  Some went down to the sea in ships, to seek commerce; there, they encountered the deeps of the Lord--winds and waves only God can master; the currents lifted and dashed them, and their courage disappeared.  They reeled and staggered like drunks; they came to wits' end, and cried out to God.  And He delivered them from their distress; He stilled the storms and calmed the waves.  He brought them to their desired haven.  Let them thank YHWH for His steadfast love and wondrous works.  Let all extol God in the congregation, and praise Him in the assembly of the elders.

During their wilderness wanderings, the people of Israel came into the wilderness of Zin and abided in Kadesh.  There, Miriam, sister of Moses and Aaron, died and was buried.  There was no water for the people, and they banded together against Moses and Aaron, saying 'Would that we had died when our brethren died before the Lord!  Why did you bring us into this wilderness, that we and our livestock alike should die here?  Why leave Egypt for this evil place?  There is no grain, nor figs, nor vines, nor pomegranates; there is no water to drink.'  Moses and Aaron went to the door of the tabernacle and fell facedown.  YHWH's glory appeared, and He spoke to Moses: 'Take the rod and assemble the people; in their presence, tell the rock to yield its water.  In this way you will give drink to the congregation and their livestock.'  Moses took up the rod, as God had commanded.  He and Aaron assembled the people, and delivered God's message: 'Hear now, you rebels: shall we bring water for you out of this rock?'  And Moses struck the rock with his rod, twice; and water flowed abundantly and the people and their livestock drank all they needed.  But YHWH remonstrated with Moses and Aaron: 'Because you did not believe in Me, to sanctify Me in the eyes of the people of Israel, you will not bring this assembly into the land I have promised to them.'  This took place at Meribah, the waters of Contention, where the Israelites contended with YHWY and He showed Himself holy before them.

Paul wrote: Sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and death spread to all mortals because all mortals sinned.  Sin was in the world indeed, before God gave the Law to humankind; but sin is not accounted where there is no law.  Even so, death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over those whose sins were not like those of Adam, who was a type for the one who was to come.  God's free gift is not like the sin of His creatures.  If many died through one man's trespass, much more have the grace of God and the free gift in the grace of that one Man, Jesus the Messiah, abounded for many.  God's free gift is not like the effects of one man's sin.  Holy judgment following one trespass brought condemnation, but the free gift following many trespasses brings justification to many.  If, because of one man's sin, death reigned through that one man, Much more will those who receive the abundance of grace and God's free gift of righteousness reign in life, through the one Man, Jesus the Messiah.  As one man's trespass led to condemnation of all humans, so one man's act of righteousness leads to acquittal and life for all humans.  As by one's disobedience many because sinners, so also by one Man's obedience many will be made righteous.  Law came in, to increase the trespass; but where sin increased, grace abounded all the more, so that as sin reigned in death, even more, grace also might reign through righteousness issuing in eternal life through Jesus Messiah, our Lord.

Jesus and His disciples were leaving Jericho, heading up to Jerusalem, followed by a great crowd.  Two blind men were sitting near the road; and when they heard that Jesus was passing by, they cried out, 'Have mercy on us, Son of David!'  Jesus stopped and called to them: 'What do  you want Me to do for you?'  They said, 'Lord, let our eyes be opened!'  In pity, Jesus touched their eyes; immediately they received their sight and followed Him.