Creating, collecting, and sharing thoughts and ideas. And learning along the way.
Nivea: A Lovely Old Friend of Yore
DEUTERONOMY 9:1-10:22 | LUKE 8:4-21 | PSALM 69:19-36 | PROVERBS 12:2-3
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6 Understand, then, that it is not because of your righteousness that the LORD your God is giving you this good land to possess, for you are a stiff-necked people.
These are Moses’ words to the children of Israel as they prepare to enter the “promised land”.
Moses is quick to make this point and to make it well. Let it not be said that it was because of any righteousness of the people that they had earned such a great reward. No, it was not. On the contrary, they were receiving this despite their “stiff-neckedness!”
God’s plan and purpose isn’t always what one views it to be. How self-absorbed are we to think that God’s every action is a direct result of this or that concerning us. We might not even figure in the grand scheme of things, but may show up in some obscure detail because that is how the Almighty’s plans sometimes fall into place. Let us therefore be cautious in attributing our circumstances to our own imaginings!
In the case of the children of Israel’s possession of these new lands, Moses tells the people that God is dispossessing the natives of the land because of their unrighteousness—which has worked out to the benefit of the children of Israel.
So, take that and remember it lest you begin to think too much of your own goodness!
Moses is indeed in a reflective mood, and begins to recount the many times over the last forty years that the people had turned away from God, and had rebelled in various ways. Were it not for Moses’ intervention, he tells them, they would surely have been destroyed a long time ago. And now that they have come so far and have all that history behind them, it is time indeed to reflect on the past, but it is time also to look forward to the future.
And for this, Moses exhorts the people to love the Lord above all else. On this note, he says this: 14 To the LORD your God belong the heavens, even the highest heavens, the earth and everything in it. 15 Yet the LORD set his affection on your forefathers and loved them, and he chose you, their descendants, above all the nations, as it is today. 16 Circumcise your hearts, therefore, and do not be stiff-necked any longer. 17 For the LORD your God is God of gods and Lord of lords, the great God, mighty and awesome, who shows no partiality and accepts no bribes. 18 He defends the cause of the fatherless and the widow, and loves the alien, giving him food and clothing. 19 And you are to love those who are aliens, for you yourselves were aliens in Egypt. 20 Fear the LORD your God and serve him. Hold fast to him and take your oaths in his name. 21 He is your praise; he is your God, who performed for you those great and awesome wonders you saw with your own eyes. 22 Your forefathers who went down into Egypt were seventy in all, and now the LORD your God has made you as numerous as the stars in the sky.
Turning next to our reading in the Book of Luke, we see Jesus speaking to the people in parables, i.e., in stories that have a deeper meaning. There is one about a sower and his seeds. If there is any ambiguity concerning what the seed might be or what the outcome of the planting is to mean, Jesus explains it in no uncertain terms.
He says: 11 “This is the meaning of the parable: The seed is the word of God. 12 Those along the path are the ones who hear, and then the devil comes and takes away the word from their hearts, so that they may not believe and be saved. 13 Those on the rock are the ones who receive the word with joy when they hear it, but they have no root. They believe for a while, but in the time of testing they fall away. 14 The seed that fell among thorns stands for those who hear, but as they go on their way they are choked by life’s worries, riches and pleasures, and they do not mature. 15 But the seed on good soil stands for those with a noble and good heart, who hear the word, retain it, and by persevering produce a crop.
So great was Jesus’ desire for the Word of God to be planted well and to reap fruit, that when asked about who might be his true relatives, blood relatives, if you will, Jesus simply says: “My mother and brothers are those who hear God’s word and put it into practice.”
I don’t think it gets any clearer than that, do you?
Our Psalm for the day is a continuation of Psalm 69, one that David must have written during a difficult period of his life. It is clear that David doesn’t pull his punches when in pain, perhaps both physical and emotional. In his anguish and grief, he heaps curses upon his enemies and entreats God to fight his battles on his behalf.
And yet, he is quick to acknowledge God’s mercies and is clear in his own understanding of what will truly please God. It is not the sacrifices of oxen and bulls, he says; it is, rather, an offering of praise and thanksgiving that is life-giving. In David’s words:
30 I will praise God’s name in song
and glorify him with thanksgiving.
31 This will please the LORD more than an ox,
more than a bull with its horns and hoofs.
32 The poor will see and be glad—
you who seek God, may your hearts live!
33 The LORD hears the needy
and does not despise his captive people.
May it be that like David we might find perspective in our daily tribulations, and turn to the one who “hears the needy and does not despise his captive people”.
Finally, a verse from the Book of Proverbs, in which Solomon, wise king of Israel, offers this food for thought:
2 Good people obtain favor from the LORD,
but he condemns those who devise wicked schemes.
3 No one can be established through wickedness,
but the righteous cannot be uprooted.
May God bless the reading and reflection of His Word. Amen.
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DEUTERONOMY 7:1-8:20 | LUKE 7:36-8:3 | PSALM 69:1-18 | PROVERBS 12:1
2 Remember how the LORD your God led you all the way in the desert these forty years, to humble you and to test you in order to know what was in your heart, whether or not you would keep his commands. 3 He humbled you, causing you to hunger and then feeding you with manna, which neither you nor your fathers had known, to teach you that man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of the LORD. 4 Your clothes did not wear out and your feet did not swell during these forty years. 5 Know then in your heart that as a man disciplines his son, so the LORD your God disciplines you.
Moses is providing another recap of the last forty years, and is exhorting the people to gird themselves even as they are on the verge of entering the promised land. The volt-faced line in the verse above is the capstone verse upon which I have established this devotional titled More Than Bread.
It was Moses who had first uttered these words about how bread alone is not what we need to survive. This earthly bread may be the sustenance of our earthly bodies, but it is of no use for our eternal bodies. We need more than bread; we need the Word of God. The Word that gives life, nay, life eternal.
It is the Word that became flesh and came to dwell among us is how John, the apostle puts it. And when Jesus himself is taunted by Satan on the mountain-top, to make the stones into bread, it is these very words that Jesus utters to rebuke Satan: Man does not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of the LORD.
Next, in our reading in the book of Luke, we find yet again the famous passage of the woman who comes to Jesus and sits by his feet to anoint them with her tears and an expensive perfume. Simon, also known as Peter looks at this scene and wonders how it is that Jesus could allow himself to come into contact with a woman of such disrepute.
But Jesus turns to Peter and by way of a parable-story explains how it doesn’t matter if she is a bad woman or a very bad woman. It doesn’t matter—do you follow? Sin is sin is sin. We are ALL in need of forgiveness. And so, turning to the woman, Jesus says to her, “Your faith has saved you; go in peace.”
Faith, and God’s grace: the two and only ingredients needed to change a life!
Like this unnamed woman who was changed, Luke makes mention of a few other such women—women whose reputations were not the most sparkling. Women who were looked down upon and shunned by the well-heeled individuals in society. It was women like these that came to Jesus to find a new life, nay, life eternal. Women once possessed by demons, women who were known prostitutes, and other such unsavory characters came to Jesus for forgiveness and to forever become changed!
Next, our Psalm for the day is one in which David is crying out to the Lord for help. Even this great warrior-poet-king of Israel had his moments of weakness and despair, and in his dark hour, he cries out for the Lord’s promise in extending his hand of mercy and provision. David says:
13 But I pray to you, O LORD,
in the time of your favor;
in your great love, O God,
answer me with your sure salvation.
14 Rescue me from the mire,
do not let me sink;
deliver me from those who hate me,
from the deep waters.
15 Do not let the floodwaters engulf me
or the depths swallow me up
or the pit close its mouth over me.
16 Answer me, O LORD, out of the goodness of your love;
in your great mercy turn to me.
17 Do not hide your face from your servant;
answer me quickly, for I am in trouble.
18 Come near and rescue me;
redeem me because of my foes.
And last but not least, the verse from Proverbs today is a straightforward one. Solomon, the wise king of Israel, says this:
1 Whoever loves discipline loves knowledge,
but he who hates correction is stupid.
This verse may be seen as a reiteration and affirmation of what Moses has told the people right at the start of today’s reading: Know then in your heart that as a man disciplines his son, so the LORD your God disciplines you.
May God bless the reading and reflection of His Word. Amen.
“Mommy, this rain gets in the way of my play!”
Hello, Rainy Sunday!
