Wed.’s Devo - The Kingdom

Read: Deut. 33:1-29, Luke 13:1-21, Ps. 78:65-72, Pr. 12:25 Moses gave each tribe their blessing from God. I love what it says about Benjamin who is a type of the church. “…The Lord shall cover him all the day long, and he shall dwell between his shoulders.” It makes me thing of how Jesus described John when it said he was the beloved who in John 13:23 rest his head against Jesus chest. At the end of the blessings God said, “Who is like you, a people saved by the Lord?” What a good reminder! In Luke, we see the great mercy of Jesus. He gives a parable about the fig tree which is Israel and how he has looked for fruit for three years and not found it. God wants to destroy it, but Jesus, our merciful High Priest want to work the soil one more year and fertilize it, then cut it down. He is hoping that by then it will be a good tree worth saving. Jesus meets a woman who has been sick for 18 years. He heals her and it just happens to be the Sabbath. The religious leaders are indignant that he would do this on the Sabbath. Jesus rebukes them comparing her to their donkeys. He humiliates them, but the general people love it. Then Jesus talks about the kingdom. It will start really small, but will grow out of control and no one will be able to stop it… not even the religious leaders of the day. Lord, may Your kingdom come today in our lives.