Wed.’s Devo - Evidence

Read: Genesis 23:1-24:51; Matthew 8:1-17; Psalm 9:133-20; Proverbs 3:1-6
Sarah died in Kiriath Arba which is the city of four. Abraham sought to buy the field in Machpelah to be his family’s burying place. This field and these trees are the very place that Abraham first went to after he and Lot parted ways. Abraham had built an altar to the Lord here. Now he wanted to bury his people here. Machpelah means “he brought low the set apart”. That means that God’s righteous people were buried (brought low) at this place. This would be their resting place until Jesus came to set them free. He bought it for 400 shekels of silver. Four is the number of righteous rule. One day, the righteous will rule the earth and Jesus will be king.
Abraham was getting old so he sent his chief servant to find a wife for Isaac. He didn’t want him to marry a Canaanite so he sent him to his homeland to get a wife from his bloodline. Through a series of prayers and fleeces, the servant found Rebekah who was Isaac’s cousin.
In Matthew, we see Jesus fully moving in his ministry. He heals a Jewish leper, a Roman centurion’s son who was paralyzed, Peter’s mother-in-law who had fever and commands demons out of many others. The one that was most important to the Jews was the Jewish leper. The Pharasees had a certain criteria for the Messiah. He would heal a Jewish leper, heal a man born blind and heal a deaf person. Here Jesus heals the Jewish leper and tells him to go and show the priest. He was giving them the evidence they required even though the Word doesn’t. He met all the criteria, yet they still wouldn’t or couldn’t believe.
Lord, help us to believe even when we don’t see our prayers answered right away. The evidence of your presence is all around us.