Read: Deuteronomy 9:1-10:22; Luke 8:4-21; Psalm 69:19-36; Proverbs 12:2-3
God was going to give the nation of Israel the land of nations much greater and stronger than them and He wanted them to know that it was going to be him that did it. He made it plain that it was not because of their righteousness or integrity that he was doing it for them but it was because of the wickedness of the nations in the land. God reminded them of all the times they had disobeyed and rebelled against the Lord. Their whole history was one of rebellion, but once more he was reaching out to tell them what pleased him. It was to fear him and walk in his ways, loving and serving him with all their heart and soul and obeying his commands which were for their good. He implored them to circumcise their hearts which means to soften their hearts and repent of their own ways and follow his. Over and over God told them to love the foreigner because they were once foreigners. That is like God telling us to love the sinner because we were once sinners.
In Luke, Jesus gave the people the parable of the seed and the sower. Jesus told parables all the time and anyone could have asked him what they meant. The Pharisees didn’t want to seem ignorant and many of the parables were against them so they never asked, but the disciples wanted to understand, so they asked. Jesus explained it to them. The seed is the Word of God and whether the seed took root and grew depended on the heart of the one it fell into. Jesus was the light bringing revelation to their hearts. He had come to the world to stand up and show the world the truth. He warned them to consider carefully how they listened. Revelation comes to those who are hungry and seeking truth, not justification. The more you receive, the more you will get. If we hear the Word with our hearts and apply it to our lives then we are considered as close as Jesus’ mother and brothers.
Lord, give us ears to hear and hearts to understand.
No comments:
Post a Comment