Sat.’s Devo - Our Merciful God

Read: Joshua 15:1-63; Luke 18:18-43; Psalm 86:1-17; Proverbs 13:9-10 When they cast the lot for Judah, his tribe was the largest, so they got the largest amount of land. His land began at the Sinai Peninsula and went east to the Dead Sea. It went as north as Jerusalem and the Mediterranean Sea was its western boundary. Caleb was given the land he had spied out and requested. When he went to fight the people living in the town of Debir, he offered the conqueror his daughter in marriage. Debir means “city of the book” so it was probably an occultic stronghold for their gods. Othniel, Caleb’s nephew took the city and got to marry Caleb’s daughter, Acsah. She urged Othniel to ask Caleb for the land of the Negev also but ended up asking herself. The land they had been given was dry and arid so they needed a source of water. Caleb granted her request and gave her the upper and lower springs. What a picture of us asking our Heavenly Father what we need and he gives us abundantly what we need. The only people the tribe of Judah could not drive out were the Jebusites in Jerusalem. Jebusites means “he will be trodden down” which was prophetic of Jerusalem. That was the same thing Jesus said of Jerusalem. To this day, Jerusalem is divided into three parts and owned by the Armenians, the Jews and the Islamics. In Luke, a religious leader asked Jesus what he should DO to inherit eternal life. There is nothing we can DO to inherit eternal life - it is a spiritual gift given by doing spiritual things like repenting and believing. But, Jesus knowing that he was religious and thought his actions were going to gain him access to God, answered him with the commandments pertaining to our actions. When the man said he had done those things, Jesus turned to the ones of the heart like loving the Lord with all your heart and your neighbor as yourself. This man could not DO that. The Temple leaders taught that your wealth and position on earth reflected your wealth and position in heaven. Jesus taught just the opposite. Jesus taught that you had to give up all on earth to gain the Kingdom. Only through God, was it possible to be saved. Jesus came near to the town of Jericho and a blind beggar heard that it was Jesus who was passing by. He yelled out for mercy and Jesus stopped and extended mercy to him and healed him. Jesus was showing how easy it was to get mercy for the humble when the Pharisee was stumbling over it with all his righteous “doing.” Lord, help us to live in your grace and mercy. Your love covers us like a blanket and preserves our coming in and our going out. Thank you!