Daily Bread 2012 Saturday January 7th
(see www.moravian.org/daily_texts/ for more info on Daily Texts I will be using each day)
Readings for Today:
• Psalm 6
www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Psalm6&version=NIV
• Genesis 7:11-8:22
www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=genesis7&version=NIV
• Matthew 4:1-11
www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew4&version=NIV
Thoughts for the Day:
Today we hear the psalmist crying out to God. He states, “6 I am worn out from my groaning. All night long I flood my bed with weeping and drench my couch with tears. 7 My eyes grow weak with sorrow; they fail because of all my foes. 8 Away from me, all you who do evil,for the LORD has heard my weeping.9 The LORD has heard my cry for mercy; the LORD accepts my prayer. 10 All my enemies will be overwhelmed with shame and anguish; they will turn back and suddenly be put to shame.” We see that within his struggle against his foe he has a quiet confidence in the Lord’s deliverance. He has assurance that the LORD has heard and accepted his prayer and will act accordingly.
Yesterday in our book of beginnings, “Genesis”, we saw that God was sorry he had made human beings and how every inclination of their heart was evil, so he brought a flood to judge all the earth in it except for Noah and his family who were blameless. And chapter 7 tells us that it rained for forty days and nights, and then waters flooded the earth for 150 days. But then it says God “remembered” Noah (I’ll bet Noah was grateful for that as it was probably getting pretty stuffy inside that Ark) and the waters started to subside. Notice they started, it didn’t happen all at once.
Then after another forty days it says,
“6 After forty days Noah opened a window he had made in the ark 7 and sent out a raven, and it kept flying back and forth until the water had dried up from the earth. 8 Then he sent out a dove to see if the water had receded from the surface of the ground. 9 But the dove could find nowhere to perch because there was water over all the surface of the earth; so it returned to Noah in the ark. He reached out his hand and took the dove and brought it back to himself in the ark. 10 He waited seven more days and again sent out the dove from the ark. 11 When the dove returned to him in the evening, there in its beak was a freshly plucked olive leaf! Then Noah knew that the water had receded from the earth. 12 He waited seven more days and sent the dove out again, but this time it did not return to him.”
Roughly speaking the whole process took a year. We don’t often stop and think of what that year must have been like for Noah and his three sons and daughters and all those animals. Would they survive? Why was it taking so long? Would they ever see dry land? Like the psalmist I’m sure they cried out with groaning day and night for deliverance. And sure enough when the dove came back with a freshly plucked olive leaf they had evidence that God would keep His promises. The Word made flesh.
And as we see in our 4th chapter of the gospel of Matthew, our LORD was not immune to suffering. Right out of the shoot after His glorious baptism where the Spirit came upon Him He is sent/driven by that same Spirit into the desert for a time of testing. (So much for the baptismal party!)
And we hear of this scene in the desert of testing,
“1 Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. 2 After fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry. 3 The tempter came to him and said, “If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread.”4 Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.”
There is an interesting word play on the word for “tempt”, it is rooted in the same word for testing. While the devil wanted to get Jesus to succumb to his temptation to trust in him versus God, Jesus was being tested to make sure He relied on God’s Word above all else. After 40 days I’m sure those stones looked mighty tasty (like hot cooked oven bread with butter running off), but Jesus remembered what was written, “That man does not live on bread alone, but every Word that comes from the mouth of God.”
The devil tries two other tactics to get Jesus to trust in something other than the Word, but Jesus is not biting, but this will not be the last time the Son of Man will be tested just as we are every day.
The psalmist, Noah, and Jesus all must wait on the Lord and trust in His Word above all else despite situations that drive them to give up their trust. What trial(s) are you going through today, and how can our forefathers in the faith help you to endure and trust that in time God’s will provide the freshly plucked olive leaf as evidence that He will provide! Today we pray for those who might feel as God has forgotten them, hoping it will be an olive leaf for them to endure in their trial.
Prayer for the Day: God who answers prayers, hear the voices of billions crying out for
deliverance. We join those abused, ravaged by war or steeped in poverty, in prayer. Hear our prayers for them and for ourselves. May your kingdom come to this world. Amen.
Readings for Today:
• Psalm 6
www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Psalm6&version=NIV
• Genesis 7:11-8:22
www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=genesis7&version=NIV
• Matthew 4:1-11
www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew4&version=NIV
Thoughts for the Day:
Today we hear the psalmist crying out to God. He states, “6 I am worn out from my groaning. All night long I flood my bed with weeping and drench my couch with tears. 7 My eyes grow weak with sorrow; they fail because of all my foes. 8 Away from me, all you who do evil,for the LORD has heard my weeping.9 The LORD has heard my cry for mercy; the LORD accepts my prayer. 10 All my enemies will be overwhelmed with shame and anguish; they will turn back and suddenly be put to shame.” We see that within his struggle against his foe he has a quiet confidence in the Lord’s deliverance. He has assurance that the LORD has heard and accepted his prayer and will act accordingly.
Yesterday in our book of beginnings, “Genesis”, we saw that God was sorry he had made human beings and how every inclination of their heart was evil, so he brought a flood to judge all the earth in it except for Noah and his family who were blameless. And chapter 7 tells us that it rained for forty days and nights, and then waters flooded the earth for 150 days. But then it says God “remembered” Noah (I’ll bet Noah was grateful for that as it was probably getting pretty stuffy inside that Ark) and the waters started to subside. Notice they started, it didn’t happen all at once.
Then after another forty days it says,
“6 After forty days Noah opened a window he had made in the ark 7 and sent out a raven, and it kept flying back and forth until the water had dried up from the earth. 8 Then he sent out a dove to see if the water had receded from the surface of the ground. 9 But the dove could find nowhere to perch because there was water over all the surface of the earth; so it returned to Noah in the ark. He reached out his hand and took the dove and brought it back to himself in the ark. 10 He waited seven more days and again sent out the dove from the ark. 11 When the dove returned to him in the evening, there in its beak was a freshly plucked olive leaf! Then Noah knew that the water had receded from the earth. 12 He waited seven more days and sent the dove out again, but this time it did not return to him.”
Roughly speaking the whole process took a year. We don’t often stop and think of what that year must have been like for Noah and his three sons and daughters and all those animals. Would they survive? Why was it taking so long? Would they ever see dry land? Like the psalmist I’m sure they cried out with groaning day and night for deliverance. And sure enough when the dove came back with a freshly plucked olive leaf they had evidence that God would keep His promises. The Word made flesh.
And as we see in our 4th chapter of the gospel of Matthew, our LORD was not immune to suffering. Right out of the shoot after His glorious baptism where the Spirit came upon Him He is sent/driven by that same Spirit into the desert for a time of testing. (So much for the baptismal party!)
And we hear of this scene in the desert of testing,
“1 Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. 2 After fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry. 3 The tempter came to him and said, “If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread.”4 Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.”
There is an interesting word play on the word for “tempt”, it is rooted in the same word for testing. While the devil wanted to get Jesus to succumb to his temptation to trust in him versus God, Jesus was being tested to make sure He relied on God’s Word above all else. After 40 days I’m sure those stones looked mighty tasty (like hot cooked oven bread with butter running off), but Jesus remembered what was written, “That man does not live on bread alone, but every Word that comes from the mouth of God.”
The devil tries two other tactics to get Jesus to trust in something other than the Word, but Jesus is not biting, but this will not be the last time the Son of Man will be tested just as we are every day.
The psalmist, Noah, and Jesus all must wait on the Lord and trust in His Word above all else despite situations that drive them to give up their trust. What trial(s) are you going through today, and how can our forefathers in the faith help you to endure and trust that in time God’s will provide the freshly plucked olive leaf as evidence that He will provide! Today we pray for those who might feel as God has forgotten them, hoping it will be an olive leaf for them to endure in their trial.
Prayer for the Day: God who answers prayers, hear the voices of billions crying out for
deliverance. We join those abused, ravaged by war or steeped in poverty, in prayer. Hear our prayers for them and for ourselves. May your kingdom come to this world. Amen.
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