Click on the link below to listen to an audio recording of this post:
32 See that you do all I command you; do not add to it or take away from it.
These are Moses’ words to the children of Israel as they prepare to cross the River Jordan into the “promised land”. And Moses is in no hurry to give the people these last instructions. He has been recounting the history of the last forty years of their journey out of Egypt and their great exodus through the desert, and repeats himself yet again.
Chief among his instructions are these: Love and obey the Lord. So very passionate is Moses about this that he goes on to say that these are not instructions for them only but for their children and their descendants as well; this is an everlasting commandment that must be instilled into the young ones from an early age.
Moses says: 18 Fix these words of mine in your hearts and minds; tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. 19 Teach them to your children, talking about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. 20 Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates, 21 so that your days and the days of your children may be many in the land that the LORD swore to give your forefathers, as many as the days that the heavens are above the earth.
Turning to our passage in Luke, we read of the fascinating account of Jesus rebuking the wild weather. The winds and the seas are raging while Jesus is in a boat with his disciples, and Jesus simply speaks the word and the winds die down and a calm appears on the water.
The disciples have seen Jesus perform miracles before: the healing of the sick and even the raising of the dead, and yet they are taken aback by this supernatural act of commanding the elements with only a word. “Who is this? He commands even the winds and the water, and they obey him” they say to one another.
We also find in this passage the amazing account of the demon-possessed man from Gadarenes. This is no ordinary incident either, and the entire townsfolk are witness to this supernatural act. A man who was so feared and despised because of his condition is made whole by Jesus, and when the people see that this man is now in his right mind and appears to be having a pleasant conversation with one and all, they are terrified of how this man Jesus has caused this to be!
So afraid are they that they ask Jesus to leave right away. And leave he does. But when the young man also wishes to follow him, Jesus says to him, “Return home and tell how much God has done for you.” Which is what the man does.
Our Psalm for the day is a short one wherein David cries out to God in a most plaintive way:
5 Yet I am poor and needy; come quickly to me, O God. You are my help and my deliverer; O LORD, do not delay.
And finally, our Proverb for the day is one that is common knowledge and yet bears reminding:
4 A wife of noble character is her husband’s crown, but a disgraceful wife is like decay in his bones.
May God bless the reading and reflection of His Word. Amen.
