Tuesday January 31st
www.moravian.org/daily_texts/
Tuesday, January 31st
Readings for Today:
Psalm 18:25-29
www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Psalm18&version=NIV
Genesis: 30:25-31:21
www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=genesis30&version=NIV
Matthew 11:11-24
www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew11&version=NIV
Psalm 18:25-29
New International Version (NIV)
25 To the faithful you show yourself faithful,
to the blameless you show yourself blameless,
26 to the pure you show yourself pure,
but to the devious you show yourself shrewd.
27 You save the humble
but bring low those whose eyes are haughty.
28 You, LORD, keep my lamp burning;
my God turns my darkness into light.
29 With your help I can advance against a troop;
with my God I can scale a wall.
The psalmist reminds us that as we seek the Lord in humility that God will always be faithful to us. We can always count on the Lord being there for us as we serve Him in all of our ways. It is God who is our fuel for doing what is right, and he keeps our lamps burning on into the night. It is with God’s strength that we can overcome the obstacles in our life that try to prevent us from bringing forth His kingdom. As we seek first His kingdom and His righteousness all will be provided for us. All of these sure promises God has given us enable us to be faithful, pure and blameless before Him by His Spirit which is working within us to cultivate all of these qualities.
Genesis 31
Jacob Flees From Laban
1 Jacob heard that Laban’s sons were saying, “Jacob has taken everything our father owned and has gained all this wealth from what belonged to our father.” 2 And Jacob noticed that Laban’s attitude toward him was not what it had been.3 Then the LORD said to Jacob, “Go back to the land of your fathers and to your relatives, and I will be with you.”4 So Jacob sent word to Rachel and Leah to come out to the fields where his flocks were. 5 He said to them, “I see that your father’s attitude toward me is not what it was before, but the God of my father has been with me. 6 You know that I’ve worked for your father with all my strength, 7 yet your father has cheated me by changing my wages ten times. However, God has not allowed him to harm me. 8 If he said, ‘The speckled ones will be your wages,’ then all the flocks gave birth to speckled young; and if he said, ‘The streaked ones will be your wages,’ then all the flocks bore streaked young. 9 So God has taken away your father’s livestock and has given them to me. but bring low those whose eyes are haughty.
The conniving and deceiving follows Jacob with him to Laban’s household. We even see Jacob matching Laban’s scheming by placing the poplar tree white branches out in front of the feeding trough with the result that the when the young were born they were streaked or speckled. But in spite of all these events, God blesses Jacob’s share of the flocks tremendously and comes through on His promise to bless Jacob and make him prosperous.
The poplar branch experiment is just one way that it is made unmistakeably clear to Laban that Jacob’s success is because God is with him. Laban of course realizes this and does not want to let go of his blessed son-in-law, but God has other plans that will be sure to come to pass. The result we can see is that when we try to go against God’s will, all kinds of calamity comes about.
Even Rachel, Laban’s daughter, gets into the act by deceiving him and taking the household gods. This will cause more problems down the road. The bottom line is that God’s will comes to pass, but not without lots of consequences because of human control and intervention that makes the road very bumpy.
Matthew 11:16 “To what can I compare this generation? They are like children sitting in the marketplaces and calling out to others:
17 “‘We played the pipe for you,
and you did not dance;
we sang a dirge,
and you did not mourn.’
18 For John came neither eating nor drinking, and they say, ‘He has a demon.’ 19 The Son of Man came eating and drinking, and they say, ‘Here is a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners.’ But wisdom is proved right by her deeds.”
We see that in spite of all that Jesus was doing to bring in the kingdom, including many miracles and healings, there will still some who did not receive him. The people found ways to rationalize away what happened. In John, they said “he has a demon” because of John’s austere lifestyle, and when Jesus came they said, “Here is a glutton and drunkard” because Jesus hung out with sinners.
When people want to stay in control they will do anything to deny the truth. We will see this throughout Jesus’ ministry that some were open to repent (remember this means have a change of mind that leads to a change of action), and others refused the truth and used intellectual means to explain away what is clearly happening.
Still today there are those who will not accept the truth even if it is right in front of them. This reminds us that it is only God who can change a human heart, though he still calls us to live out the Gospel in word and deed. This also reminds us that we are not in control, and this is a good thing.
Heavenly Father, it's hard for us to face the brutal truth that we often ignore you. We separate ourselves from you. We withhold our hearts from the very one who created them. Forgive us and receive us, we pray. Amen.
Tuesday, January 31st
Readings for Today:
Psalm 18:25-29
www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Psalm18&version=NIV
Genesis: 30:25-31:21
www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=genesis30&version=NIV
Matthew 11:11-24
www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew11&version=NIV
Psalm 18:25-29
New International Version (NIV)
25 To the faithful you show yourself faithful,
to the blameless you show yourself blameless,
26 to the pure you show yourself pure,
but to the devious you show yourself shrewd.
27 You save the humble
but bring low those whose eyes are haughty.
28 You, LORD, keep my lamp burning;
my God turns my darkness into light.
29 With your help I can advance against a troop;
with my God I can scale a wall.
The psalmist reminds us that as we seek the Lord in humility that God will always be faithful to us. We can always count on the Lord being there for us as we serve Him in all of our ways. It is God who is our fuel for doing what is right, and he keeps our lamps burning on into the night. It is with God’s strength that we can overcome the obstacles in our life that try to prevent us from bringing forth His kingdom. As we seek first His kingdom and His righteousness all will be provided for us. All of these sure promises God has given us enable us to be faithful, pure and blameless before Him by His Spirit which is working within us to cultivate all of these qualities.
Genesis 31
Jacob Flees From Laban
1 Jacob heard that Laban’s sons were saying, “Jacob has taken everything our father owned and has gained all this wealth from what belonged to our father.” 2 And Jacob noticed that Laban’s attitude toward him was not what it had been.3 Then the LORD said to Jacob, “Go back to the land of your fathers and to your relatives, and I will be with you.”4 So Jacob sent word to Rachel and Leah to come out to the fields where his flocks were. 5 He said to them, “I see that your father’s attitude toward me is not what it was before, but the God of my father has been with me. 6 You know that I’ve worked for your father with all my strength, 7 yet your father has cheated me by changing my wages ten times. However, God has not allowed him to harm me. 8 If he said, ‘The speckled ones will be your wages,’ then all the flocks gave birth to speckled young; and if he said, ‘The streaked ones will be your wages,’ then all the flocks bore streaked young. 9 So God has taken away your father’s livestock and has given them to me. but bring low those whose eyes are haughty.
The conniving and deceiving follows Jacob with him to Laban’s household. We even see Jacob matching Laban’s scheming by placing the poplar tree white branches out in front of the feeding trough with the result that the when the young were born they were streaked or speckled. But in spite of all these events, God blesses Jacob’s share of the flocks tremendously and comes through on His promise to bless Jacob and make him prosperous.
The poplar branch experiment is just one way that it is made unmistakeably clear to Laban that Jacob’s success is because God is with him. Laban of course realizes this and does not want to let go of his blessed son-in-law, but God has other plans that will be sure to come to pass. The result we can see is that when we try to go against God’s will, all kinds of calamity comes about.
Even Rachel, Laban’s daughter, gets into the act by deceiving him and taking the household gods. This will cause more problems down the road. The bottom line is that God’s will comes to pass, but not without lots of consequences because of human control and intervention that makes the road very bumpy.
Matthew 11:16 “To what can I compare this generation? They are like children sitting in the marketplaces and calling out to others:
17 “‘We played the pipe for you,
and you did not dance;
we sang a dirge,
and you did not mourn.’
18 For John came neither eating nor drinking, and they say, ‘He has a demon.’ 19 The Son of Man came eating and drinking, and they say, ‘Here is a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners.’ But wisdom is proved right by her deeds.”
We see that in spite of all that Jesus was doing to bring in the kingdom, including many miracles and healings, there will still some who did not receive him. The people found ways to rationalize away what happened. In John, they said “he has a demon” because of John’s austere lifestyle, and when Jesus came they said, “Here is a glutton and drunkard” because Jesus hung out with sinners.
When people want to stay in control they will do anything to deny the truth. We will see this throughout Jesus’ ministry that some were open to repent (remember this means have a change of mind that leads to a change of action), and others refused the truth and used intellectual means to explain away what is clearly happening.
Still today there are those who will not accept the truth even if it is right in front of them. This reminds us that it is only God who can change a human heart, though he still calls us to live out the Gospel in word and deed. This also reminds us that we are not in control, and this is a good thing.
Heavenly Father, it's hard for us to face the brutal truth that we often ignore you. We separate ourselves from you. We withhold our hearts from the very one who created them. Forgive us and receive us, we pray. Amen.
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