Wed.’s Devo - Hannah and Samuel

Read: 1 Samuel 1:1-2:21; John 5:1-23; Psalm 105:37-45; Proverbs 14:28-29 This was the time of the judges when everyone did what was right in their own eyes. Elkanah had two wives named Hannah and Peninnah. Peninnah had children, but Hannah was barren. Every year this became very obvious when they went to Shiloh to worship the Lord and bring their sacrifice. Elkanah gave meat for Hannah and Peninnah to offer only Peninnah was give more to cover her children. Peninnah would always make a big deal about how small Hannah’s sacrifice was since she had no children. This upset her so much she was unable to eat. *** One year, Hannah left the feasting and went to pray. Eli the high priest saw her and thought she was drunk. She explained she was not drunk, but in great turmoil and was praying. Eli told her to go in peace and may God grant the request she had asked him for. Hannah got up and joyfully went back to enjoy the festivities. *** She returned home and soon became pregnant. She had vowed to give the baby to the Lord. Samuel was born and when he had weaned, she took him to the Tabernacle and offered him to Eli. Eli had two sons who were now men and they didn’t honor God or the people. They stole people’s sacrifices for themselves. Samuel became like Eli’s son and grew up in the Tabernacle. Hannah visited every year and brought him a coat she had made. *** God blessed Hannah with three more sons and two daughters. Hannah prayed a prayer that Mary, the mother of Jesus, would quote from many years later. *** In John, Jesus went to Jerusalem for the feast and went to the pool of Bethesda where the blind, lame, and paralyzed gathered waiting for the pool to bubble up. They believed that when it did, the first one into the pool would be healed. Jesus saw a man who had been sick for 38 years. He asked him if her would like to get well. He explained that he would but he couldn’t get to the water quick enough when the water bubbled up. Jesus told him to stand up and pick up his mat and walk. The man was instantly healed. He rolled up his mat and began walking. The Jewish leaders saw him carrying his mat on the Sabbath and rebuked him. He told them he was just doing what the man who healed him told him to do. When they asked who healed him, he didn’t even know. Later, Jesus found him and told him to stop sinning or something even worse may happen to him. *** The man went to the leaders of the Jews and told him it was Jesus who had healed him so they came to Jesus to rebuke him for healing on the Sabbath. Jesus told them that his Father was always working and he was just doing what he saw Him do. Jesus was calling God his Father and healing on the Sabbath, giving the religious leaders two reasons for wanting to kill him. *** Jesus told them that God was going to show him how to do even greater things than what they had just seen. God, the Father gives life to the dead, but the Son gives life to the living. God is not the one who will judge because he has given that right to Jesus. So everyone will honor the Son as their judge just like the honor God, the Father. If they don’t honor the son, they cannot honor the Father. That statement confronts every religion who doesn’t worship Jesus. Jesus is the only way to the Father. *** Lord, we honor you by honoring Jesus as our Christ, the only begotten son of yours. Through Him, we become your sons and daughters. May we see what you are doing and follow your lead.

Tues.’s Devo - Jesus, Our Redeemer

Read: Ruth 2:1-4:22; John 4:43-54; Psalm 105:16-36; Proverbs 14:26-27 Ruth, the Moabite got consent from Naomi to glean grain behind the harvesters, which is what the poor did. She ended up in the field of Boaz who unbeknown to her was a distant relative of her late husband. He saw her and gave her much favor. She probably reminded him of his own mother who had been the harlot who hid the slaves when they came to Jericho. He knew how hard it must be to be of a different nationality and try to adjust to a new culture. *** He gave Ruth water, food and protection and told her to only glean in his fields. He told his workers to purposely drop grain for her to pick up. She went home that first day with so much grain Naomi wanted to know where she had picked. When she found out whose field it was and knew that Boaz was a kinsman redeemer, she told her to stay with Boaz. *** At the end of the harvest, Naomi told Ruth she needed to find a husband and told her what to do. She went at night and hid and watched where Boaz slept, then she uncovered his feet and laid down at his feet. When he awoke in the night he asked who was there. Ruth answered him and told him that he was a kinsman redeemer and asked if he would redeem her. Boaz had already done his research and knew that there was a closer relative so he told Ruth he would settle the matter that day. *** The man who was closer in relation to Elimelech didn’t want to marry Ruth so Boaz bought her and Elimelech’s field. He married Ruth and they had a son named Obed who was two generations from king David. *** The story of Ruth is told every Passover by the Jews and is a theme of Passover. It is the story of our salvation, especially to the Gentile since Ruth was a Gentile who was bought by Boaz who was a type of Christ. *** Jesus was in Galilee, close to his home town where there had been little faith in him. But, the Galilean’s that had been at the Passover welcomed him because they had seen all the miracles he did there. He went back to Cana where he had turned the water to wine. One of the Roman officers found Jesus and begged him to come to Capernaum and heal his dying son. *** Jesus told him to return home because his son would live. He obeyed and on his way home, he received news that his son had miraculously recovered. He found out it happened at the same moment Jesus pronounced him healed. After this, his whole household believed in Jesus. *** Amazing how just one miraculous sign can change hearts. Lord, may we do your works so that others might believe and come to you.

Mon.’s Devo - From Rejection to Redemption

Read: Judges 21:1- Ruth 1:22; John 4:4-42; Psalm 105:1-15; Proverbs 14:25 After the civil war with Benjamin, all the people met at Bethel and vowed not to let their daughters marry a Benjamite. They also vowed to put to death anyone who had refused to come and fight. They realized that the whole tribe of Benjamin would be wiped out if they didn’t find wives for the 600 men who had escaped. *** They learned that the town of Jabesh-Gilead had refused to come and fight so they killed everyone in the town except for the young virgins. They gave them to the men of Benjamin, but still needed 200 more women. *** Every year at Shiloh there was a celebration. One of the customs was to have a dance of the virgins. They told the remaining men of Benjamin to hid out and go snatch a virgin when they did their dance. They wouldn’t technically be giving their wives to the Benjamites because they took them. This worked and all of them got wives. *** This craziness makes me wonder if it was not why Israel had a famine that lasted ten years. A man named Elimelech from Bethlehem took his family to live in Moab since the famine was so great. His wife was Naomi and they had two sons: Mahlon and Kilion. In Moab, the two sons married Ruth and Orpah. Elimelech, Mahlon and Kilion all died in Moab leaving the women to fend for themselves. Ruth heard there was bread in Bethlehem once again and started back home. She kissed her daughter-in-laws good-bye and told them to go live with their parents and remarry. They both wanted to go with her, but only Ruth did. When Naomi and Ruth got to Bethlehem it was the beginning of the barley harvest which means they were there between First Fruits and Pentecost. The whole town was so glad to see Naomi again. *** In John, Jesus was on his way to Galilee which took him through Samaria. Jacob’s well was there that he had given to his son Joseph. Jesus sat by the well. It was around noon and a woman came to draw water from the well. Jesus asked her to give him a drink. His disciples had gone to the village to buy some food. *** Since the Jews, by tradition, hated the Samaritans she was a little surprised she would ask for a drink from her. He told her if she knew who she was speaking to, she would be asking him for a drink of living water. When she didn’t understand, he tried to explain the difference between natural water and spiritual water. Spiritual water bubbles up from within and gives eternal life. *** She wanted this water that Jesus was talking about, so Jesus told her to go and get her husband. When she told him she didn’t have a husband, Jesus told her she had been rejected by five husbands and wasn’t even married to the one she was living with. She knew she was talking to a prophet so she asked him where the right place to worship God was since that had been a topic of dispute. He told her that the time was coming when it wouldn’t matter where they worshiped as long as they worshiped in spirit and in truth. *** When she told him the Messiah was coming who would explain everything to them, Jesus told her he was the Messiah. *** At that moment, the disciples returned with lunch. The woman left her water jar beside the well and went running back to her village to get the people of the town to come and see the man who told her everything she had done. *** Jesus was no longer hungry because his food was to do the Father’s will and he was doing it. Many of the Samaritans came and heard the words of Jesus and believed that he was the Savior of the world. *** All three of the stories we read today were about wives and husbands. In the first story, they killed these girl’s families to take them as their wives or they kidnapped them from their families to take them as wives. I wonder how loving these wives could be? The next story, the wives lost their husbands to sickness and were left without a husband. And the last story, this woman had been divorced so many times, this last man wound’t even marry her. It did not go well for the women. These wives all represented the people of Israel who were supposed to be the Bride of Christ, yet because they went after other lovers, they were treated like the wives in these stories. Jesus came and gave the woman at the well a chance to be redeemed and she took it. We are given the same opportunity! *** Lord, thank you that you know everything about us and still want to save us. May we worship you in spirit and in truth and see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living. May our food be to do your will. May we be the bride of Christ that is spotless and pure.

Sun.’s Devo - The Depravity of Israel

Read: Judges 19:1-20:48; John 3:22-4:3; Psalm 104:24-35; Proverbs 14:22-24 This is one of my least favorite stories to read in the Bible. It goes back to the fact that there was no king in Israel and everyone did what was right in their own eyes. The sad thing is, the man in the story was a Levite who was suppose to be the example to the people of God’s law. He went to get his concubine in Bethlehem who had run home because she got mad at him. He stayed several nights with her family then left for home in Ephraim. *** That night he stopped in Gibeah in Benjamin to spend the night. They went to the town square and stood until finally an old man who worked in Ephraim saw them on his way home. He convinced them to come and stay with him for the night. *** That night, it was like the last night Lot spent in Sodom. The men of the town came to the house and wanted the man to come out so they could have sex with him. To save his own life, he sent his concubine out and they raped her all night and left her dead on the threshold. *** The man took his dead concubine home and cut her into twelve pieces and sent them to each tribe of Israel. They united as one against Benjamin. They had days of battle where 40,000 Israelites died and 48,100 Benjamites died. The town of Gibeah was burned to the ground. (Did anyone think to kill the man who gave his concubine to the men of Gibeah?) Selah! *** In John, Jesus’ disciples were baptizing people in the Judean countryside. John the Baptist was baptizing at Aenon. They must have been close to each other because their disciples argued about the law together. One of John’s disciples brought John news that Jesus’ disciples were baptizing more people than them. John explained that that was a good thing. Jesus was the one he had preached about that came down from heaven and was the Messiah. John spoke of earthly things because he was of the earth, but Jesus spoke of heavenly things because he was from heaven. Only through Jesus will anyone receive eternal life. *** John knew his assignment and that was as far as he went. He also knew Jesus’ assignment and he was happy to help him fulfill his. *** Lord, may we work with you and not against you. May we fulfill our assignments giving you the glory and the honor because all we do is for you.

Sat.’s Devo - We Must Be Born Again

Read: Judges 17:1-18:31; John 3:1-21; Psalm 104:1-23; Proverbs 14:20-21 Micah stole 1,100 pieces of silver from his mother and then confessed to his crime. She instantly forgave him and took a portion of her returned money and had an image, an idol, an ephod and other household gods made until she had a small shrine. She installed her son as the priest. This story incapsulated what was going on in the land God told them to conquer. First they steal the people’s money and use it to build altars to put false gods which hurt the people even more. Then they select false priests to run them. *** A real Levite happened upon their land and they took him in and put him in charge of their false gods. The Levite, who should have known better, fell right in with it. This time in history was when they had no king to lead them and everyone did what they thought was right in their own eyes. *** The tribe of Dan had not yet conquered and moved into the land they had been given. They sent out scouts and found that the town where Micah lived was good land. They went into Micah’s house, and recognized the accent of the Levite living there and told him to come with them. He was happy to be with fellow Israelites. Instead of burning the idols and killing all the people, they took the idols for themselves and let the people live. *** They went on to Laish and attacked it and burned it to the ground. They set up the idols they had stolen from Micah and appointed Jonathan, one of Moses’ grandsons to be their priest. They worshipped this idol all the time God’s tabernacle was in Shiloh. This is probably why the tribe of Dan is left out of the list in Revelation - they never worshipped the Lord in the promised land. *** In John, the Pharisee, Nicodemus came to him in the cover of darkness. Nicodemus means “conqueror of the populace.” The fact that he came at night and his goal is to rule over the people tells me that he wasn’t seeking to believe in Jesus, but to find a way to conquer him. Nicodemus wanted tangible signs that God was with Jesus, but Jesus kept giving him spiritual answers like, “you must be born again to see the Kingdom of God.” Nicodemus couldn’t comprehend his answers because he was carnal. Jesus explained to him that he wouldn’t even believe the testimonies of actual miracles so there was no way he was going to believe what he told him about spiritual things. Jesus reminded him that Moses had lifted up a bronze snake on a pole to save the people and in the same way, the Son of Man would be lifted up to save the people. God would give his only Son so that everyone who believes in him would be saved and have eternal life. God didn’t send his son to judge, but to save the world. *** The ones who will be judged are the ones who choose not to believe in him. Then Jesus nailed Nicodemus by saying that God’s light came into the world, but people loved the darkness more than the light, because their deeds were evil. (This was Nicodemus to a tee.) Here he was at night, seeking a way to destroy the light. Then Jesus gave him an invitation to change. He said, “But those who do what is right come to the light so others can see that they are doing what God wants.” We never see Nicodemus come to the light and claim to believe in Jesus. Lord, may we not be ashamed to declare your good news in the light of day. Thank you for loving us enough to send your Son to die for us. Thank you for salvation that is free. May we freely give it to others.

Fri.’s Devo - May We Be Activated

Read: Judges 15:1-16:31; John 2:1-25; Psalm 103:1-22; Proverbs 14:17-19 When Samson had calmed down, he went to get his bride and consummate their marriage. When he found out her father had given her to his best man, he caught 300 foxes and tied their tails together in pairs and tied a torch to their tails. Then it lit the torch and let the foxes run through the grain fields of the Philistines which burned up all their grain. It also destroyed their vineyards and olive groves. The Philistines found out who did it and why and went and got the woman and her father and burned them to death. She got the very thing she tried to save herself from. This made Samson even madder. *** Samson went and hid in a cave in Etam, so the Philistines began to attack a town nearby in order to capture him. Three thousand men of Judah went to get Samson, so Samson allowed them to turn him over to the Philistines so their town would be saved. *** As the Philistines were leaving Lehi with Samson, the Spirit of the Lord came over Samson and he snapped the ropes off his arms, found the jawbone of a donkey and killed 1,000 Philistines with it. He was extremely thirsty and cried out to the Lord. God caused water to gush out of the ground and he was refreshed. *** This all happened at the time of Pentecost. Look at all the clues: 3,000 men of Judah, living water gushing out of the ground, fire spreading, and spiritual warfare. These are all themes of Pentecost. Three thousand were filled with the Spirit in Acts 2, The Holy Spirit is the well of living water that fills us to overflowing. The Holy Spirit is to give us boldness to witness and bring in a harvest of souls, and filled with the Holy Spirit we enter into warfare to get the evil out of the land. *** Samson fell in love with Delilah, another Philistine woman. She was offered lots of money to find the way to capture Samson and find the source of his strength. He teased her with 3 different ways to bind him, but all were lies. She finally enticed the truth out of him and they cut the locks of his hair while he was sleeping. *** Samson lost his strength and was captured. They gouged out his eyes and put him in the prison where he was bound with chains and forced to grind grain. His hair began to grow. *** The people had a festival to their god, Dagon. They brought Samson out to make sport of him and asked the servant to let him put his hands on the pillars that held up the Temple. When he did, he prayed that God would give him strength one more time so he could avenge the loss of his two eyes. The Lord did and he pushed the pillars apart. The temple crashed down on the Philistine ruler’s and he died with them. Three thousand were killed, just like the 3,000 that died when God gave Moses the law on the very first Pentecost. *** His family went and took his bones back to Manoah so he could sleep with his father’s. He had judged Israel for 20 years. *** In John, Jesus was at a wedding where they ran out of wine. His mother went to tell him and Jesus replied that his time was not yet. But, his mother told the servants to do whatever he said to do. Jesus told them to fill the six stone water jars standing there with water. Then he told them to scoop some of it out and give it to the master of ceremonies to let him taste it. When they did, the master of ceremonies proclaimed that most served the best wine first, but they had saved the best wine until now. (What a statement! Jesus was the best wine saved till then.) *** This was the first time Jesus revealed his glory to the crowd. Jesus went home and spent a few days with his mother, brothers and disciples, then went to Jerusalem for the Passover. *** At the Temple, he witnessed the merchants selling their animals and exchanging money. No doubt, he had seen this year after year, but this time he had been activated at Cana and he made whips and drove out the animals and flipped the tables of the sellers. He told them to stop making his Father’s house into a marketplace. *** The disciple remembered the prophecy from Psalm 69:9 which says, “Passion for your house has consumed me, and the insults of those who insult you have fallen on me.” Jesus now took what they were doing to his Father’s house personal. *** The Jewish leaders wanted to know who gave him authority to “cleanse the Temple” and wanted a miraculous sign to prove it. Jesus said, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.” They didn’t like or understand this answer, of course. Jesus did do many signs and miracles at the Passover celebration, but the people’s hearts were not to be trusted and Jesus knew this. *** Lord, may we be passionate about your house and not be enticed to give your pearls to swine. May we obey your promptings even if we don’t think we are ready for the assignment. It is your Spirit that is at work, not ours.

Thurs.’s Devo - Samson

Read: Judges 13:1-14-14:20; John 1:29-51; Psalm 102:1-28; Proverbs 14:15-16 Today we read of a man and his wife who lived in the town of Zorah in the tribe of Dan. Zorah means “she was smitten with leprosy”, which probably means the person they named the town after, died of leprosy. Dan means “judge” and the man’s name, Manoa means “rest”. So that tells me that the people of Israel had being judged for their sins and now God was bringing them rest. *** This rest came in a very dramatic way. God came to Manoa’s wife and told her that though she was barren, she would have a son who would be dedicated to the Lord as a Nazarite from the womb. His hair was never to be cut. She was to drink nothing alcoholic or eat anything from the vine. He would begin to rescue Israel from the Philistines. The word Philistine means “to wallow”. Wallow means to roll about in mud, dust, water, slime, etc.; to live or indulge oneself fully with immoderate enjoyment. You’ve heard the expression: “wallow in self-pity”. *** When Manoa’s wife told her husband what the angel told her, he prayed that the angel would come back and give them more instructions about how to raise him. (Haven’t we all prayed that about a child of ours?) God did come back and told him exactly the same thing. (God gives us a framework and trusts that we will make the right decisions. God’s Spirit leads us in the way we should go.) *** When the child was born they named him Samson which means “little sun”. He was to be God’s light in the midst of darkness. *** Samson was greatly attracted by a Philistine woman from Timnah and wanted to marry her. Finally, his parents agreed and they plan a wedding. On the way to Timnah, God activated Samson’s power. He was attacked by a young lion and by the Spirit of God, Samson tore the lion’s jaw apart with his bare hands. He did it so easily it was obvious to him he did it with supernatural power. *** On his way home he saw that bees had made honey in the carcass of the lion. He ate some and took some home to his parents. *** Samson threw a party for the elite men of Timnah which tells me Samson’s parents were wealthy. The bride’s parents met Samson and chose 30 men to be his attendants at the wedding. Samson challenged them with a riddle which he got from his episode with the lion and the honey. If they figured it out, he would give them each a new outfit but if they didn’t, they would have to each give Samson a new outfit. *** The 30 men told Samson’s fiancé that if she didn’t tell them the answer, they would burn down her house with her family in it. She nagged Samson for a week until he finally told her the day before the wedding. They came to him early, the morning of the seventh day and told him the meaning. Samson knew they had gotten it from his fiancé. He went to the town of Ashkelon and killed thirty men and took their clothes to the 30 men, then went back to live with his parents. At the wedding that day, Samson’s fiancé was given to his best man. *** John had told the Pharisees the day before that one among the crowd was the Messiah. Today, he saw Jesus coming to him to be baptized and it was revealed to him that he was the one. John said, “Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!” He explained that he was the one he had been talking about before. John said that he had been baptizing in water so that Jesus might be revealed. It was like he was washing scales from the peoples’ eyes so they might be able to see the Messiah. Two of John’s disciples began to follow Jesus. One of these men was Andrew. He ran and got his brother Simon and brought him to meet Jesus. Jesus told him his name would change to Cephas or Peter which means “a stone”. *** The next day, Jesus went to Galilee and found Philip and told him to follow him. Philip went and got Nathanael and brought him to Jesus. Jesus called him a genuine son of Israel - a man of integrity. Nathanael, who had been skeptical, asked how Jesus knew him, and Jesus told him he saw him under the fig tree. (Those who wanted to spend time in meditation and prayer would retreat under the fig tree.) Jesus was telling him that he knew he had been pouring out his soul to the Lord, and he was his answer. Nathanael got what Jesus was saying and was amazed. Jesus told him he would see greater things than this. He would see the heaven open and the angels of God going up and down on the Son of Man. He was the stairway - the mediator between heaven and man. *** I noticed that Jesus didn’t give a word of knowledge to Andrew or Philip because they didn’t need one. Signs are for the unbelievers like Peter and Nathanael. *** Lord, may we operate in your gifts and have discernment as to the timing and the people. May our efforts be effective. Open our eyes for opportunities to bring hope and life.