Fri.’s Devo - Jesus’ Rejection

Read: Numbers 30:1-31:54; Luke 4:1-30; Psalm 63:1-11; Proverbs 11:20-21 When I read the laws about making vows I am so thankful for these laws because I think of the thoughtless vows I have made that I know the Lord opposed and kept me from having to keep them. Just think of things we say like, “I’d rather die than…”, or “Over my dead body…” We have so many euphemisms which are so detrimental to our health and spiritual well-being. It is a great thing that God as our Father can step in and annul it, or Jesus as our husband can also. *** God told Moses that he was to avenge the people of Israel by fighting the Midianties. They were to send one thousand warriors from each tribe to fight against them. Phinehas, the priest went with them to war with the vessels of the tabernacle and the trumpet to sound for the attack. *** God gave them total success and they killed Balaam who had been paid to curse them, only God wouldn’t let him. They took the women and children of Midian captive and all the spoil. When they brought them to Moses he was so angry with them because they let them live. These were the very ones who led Israel to worship Baal. He told them to kill every male child and every married woman. The virgins could be spared. Those who did this were to stay outside the camp for seven days to be purified. *** They made it a law that the only plunder they could take from an enemy was metal that could go through the fire to be purified and anything that could be washed in water. They were to wash their own clothes, then on the seventh day they would be clean. *** We go through battles and trials all through our lives. We try to be clean and pure through it all, but it is impossible since we are humans. On the seventh day when everyone is judged, everything we have done will go through the fire and the water and what survives will be what will stand as our good deeds before the Lord. *** When they counted all the plunder, it was split between the people who went to battle and the ones who stayed home. A small part of the half that went to the warriors was given to Eleazar as the Lord’s part. A larger part was taken from the people’s half and given to the Levites who guarded the tabernacle. The plunder was abundant as listed in verses 32-47. *** When the officers did a count of their soldiers they found that not one had died. They freely gave of their plunder to the Lord as a thanksgiving for saving them all. Their gifts stood as a memorial to the Lord of what he had done for them. *** In Luke, Jesus went from baptism to the fire of testing. He was led by the Spirit into the wilderness just for this reason. He fasted the whole 40 days and nights and at the end of the time, the devil came to him to tempt him to turn a stone into bread. Jesus gave scripture saying that man doesn’t live by bread alone. *** Then the devil showed Jesus all the kingdoms of the world in a glimpse. The devil promised to him him authority and glory on earth if he would bow down and worship him. Jesus told him he would only worship the Lord and only serve him. Lastly, the devil took Jesus to Jerusalem and set him on the pinnacle of the temple and told him to jump because the scriptures say that he could command angels to catch him. Jesus rebuked him for testing God. The devil left him to fight another day. *** Jesus returned to Galilee filled with God’s Spirit. He taught in the synagogues and was becoming well-known. Then he went home to Nazareth and was not as well received. When he went into the synagogue that Sabbath, he stood up to read the scripture for the day. He took the scroll of Isaiah and found the place where it said, “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.” Then he rolled up the scroll and gave it back to the attendant and sat down. When everyone was looking at him for an explanation, he told them that today that Scripture is being fulfilled in their ears. *** He knew they were questioning his authority because they knew he was just Mary and Joseph’s son, so Jesus reminded them that a prophet is never accepted in his hometown. Jesus told of two stories which all had to do with outsiders. God had chosen to save the widow in Sidon during the famine when there were many godly people dying in Israel. And God had healed the leper from Syria when there were many lepers in Israel that he didn’t heal. He was using these stories to tell why he couldn’t heal them of his own hometown, but could heal many people elsewhere. It had to do with their faith. This made the people so mad that he would insinuate that God would choose to help, especially the Gentiles over them, that they drove him out of town to a cliff. They had planned to throw him off, but Jesus just walked right through the crowd and left. *** May this be a lesson to us, that God is God and he can do whatever he wants for whoever he chooses. We don’t have the right to challenge his decisions. *** Lord, may we walk in gratefulness that you would move in anyone you choose. May we be joyful for those you choose to bless and not jealous or feel entitled. We choose to love and worship you because you are God and that is enough.