Sun.’s Devo - God’s Promises

Read: Deuteronomy 5:1-6:25; Luke 7:11-35; Psalm 68:19-35; Prover s 11:29-31 Moses reminded the new generation of Israelites that God had made a covenant with them and spoke to them out of the heart of the fire on Mt. Sinai. He gave his commandments proclaiming that He was the one who brought them out of the land of Egypt from the house of bondage and HE was to be their only God. He was a jealous God and would visit the iniquity of the father’s upon the children unto the third and fourth generation but shewing mercy unto thousands of them that love him and keep his commandments. The first three commandments had to do with their worship of him and the last seven had to do with how they treated one another. When Jesus said that the greatest commandments were to love the Lord with all you heart and your neighbor as yourself and by doing this you will have fulfilled all the commandments, he was right. It was a simple as that. *** The people had not enjoyed that great show of God’s power at Mt. Sinai. It scared them and they asked that God not do that again. Moses summed it up with: If they walked in the ways that God had commanded them to live, then it would go well with them and they would live long on the earth. *** They were to love and fear the Lord and keep all his commandments and teach them to their children and talk of them in their everyday life. They were to be their statutes that they lived by. In return, God would fill their houses with good things and give then wells that they didn’t have to dig, vineyards and olive trees they didn’t plant and they would have plenty to eat. They were to cast out their enemies before them. If they obeyed his commands, God would count it as righteousness to them. *** In Luke, Jesus saw a widow who was burying her only son. He was so filled with compassion that he went over and raised the boy back to life. I can’t help but think that Jesus was seeing the pain of his own mother who was about to lose her first born son. Jesus was also probably thinking of Israel, God’s first born that was dead and needed rising from the dead. *** The disciples of John the Baptist sent word to Jesus asking him if he was indeed the Messiah. No doubt he was wondering why Jesus hadn’t delivered him from prison since he came to “set the captives free” and John was definitely captured. Jesus told his disciples to tell John all the things he had done and then added, “And blessed are they who are not offended in me.” He was telling John not to be offended of what he didn’t do but instead to look at all he had done. This is a great reminder to us when God seems like he is not answering our prayers the way we want him to or think he should. Instead of complaining about the one thing he is not doing, we need to look around and see what he is doing and has done for us and be grateful. *** Jesus had great respect for John and praised him to the crowd. He said that John was more than a prophet - he was the one who prepared the way for him. He was the one who was prophesied many years ago and none was greater than him. *** Jesus rebuked their generation for not ever being satisfied with God’s ways or plans. They were too busy judging everything and every body - they even judged God’s goodness. Lord, may we not be guilty of the same sin. May we not judge how you move in our lives but accept your wisdom as the best for us.