Sat.’s Devo - A New Day

Read: Deuteronomy 11:1-12:32; Luke 8:22-39; Psalm 70:1-5; Proverbs 12:4 Moses continued his speech. He reminded them that the Egyptians had still, after 40 years, not recovered from what happened when God visited them with plagues and great wonders. *** Most of the people he was talking to had not seen all those things happen because they weren’t even born and their parents were children or teen-agers at the time. Their parents were to tell all the things they saw to their children so they would know who God was and what he expected of them. *** God told them to obey his commands so they would have strength to enter their land. This land is not like the land of Egypt that needed irrigation. God watches over this land to bring rain and help the land give of its fruits. They will live in great prosperity and joy as long as they obey the Lord. Obeying the Lord is how they show they love him. *** God would help them by putting fear in the hearts of the inhabitants so they would be easy to drive out. *** They were to proclaim the blessings on Mt Gerizim and the curses on Mt. Ebal. “Gerizim” means “cut off” and Ebal means “confusion”. So hearing the blessings of obeying the Lord and the curses of not obeying the Lord cuts off all confusion - it was plain and simple and the choice was theirs whether they would choose to be blessed or cursed. *** They were to tear down and destroy every place the past inhabitants worshiped their idols and silly gods. God would choose a place, once they got settled where they would bring their sacrifices and offerings to worship him. This is the only place they would be able to eat their offerings given to the Lord. They were free to have bar-b-ques in their homeland but not do it as a way of worship to the Lord. They were never to eat meat of an animal that was still alive. They were to kill the animal and drain its blood from it making sure it was dead. *** In Luke, Jesus had told this disciples that they were going to cross the lake to the other side. It grew night time and a huge storm rose up. The disciples woke Jesus up and told them they were about to drown. Jesus got up and rebuked the wind and it stopped fighting them. He asked his disciples where their faith was. Satan was warning them they were coming into his territory, but Jesus rebuked him and went anyway. No wonder, when they got there, they met the man who was full of demons. He had terrorized the people and lived in the tombs with the dead. When he saw Jesus, he immediately bowed and exclaimed who Jesus was - Son of the Most High God. The demons in him begged Jesus not to torture them. He was filled with legions of demons who begged Jesus not to send them to the pit. Jesus gave them permission to enter into a bunch of pigs nearby. The pigs ran, out of control over a cliff into the lake and drowned. The herdsmen who were watching the pigs, went into the town telling everyone what they had seen. People came to see for themselves and saw the demon-possessed man sitting on the ground listening to Jesus teach. They were so afraid, they begged Jesus to leave their territory. Jesus left the man who had been delivered there to share his story with everyone. When Jesus came back, the people were then ready to receive him. *** Sometimes it is hard to process something new and people need some time. We need to keep that in mind as everything in our day is changing and becoming new. We need to be patient with people because we all “see” at different times. The people of Israel and the days of the disciples were all new, and they were facing paths they had never navigated before. We are entering into a new day also with the Lord, and we will need to adjust as we go and be willing to change. *** Lord, help us have patience with those who can’t see yet, as you have patience with us. Open all of our eyes to see into the ways of your kingdom. May we make the corrections along the way that we need to make to navigate this new day.