Daily Devotions
Monday, October 9, 2023 1 Peter 2:9-10
9 But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s own people, in order that you may proclaim the excellence of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.
10 Once you were not a people, but now you are God’s people; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.
Reflections: Look in the mirror and say it loud and proud. “Once I was a nobody but now I am God’s.” and consider, “Once my world was merciless, now mercy surrounds me.”
Tuesday, October 10, 2023 Deuteronomy 5:31-6:3
God is speaking to Moses. 31 But you, stand here by me, and I will tell you all the commandments, the statutes and the ordinances, that you shall teach them, so that they may do them in the land that I am giving them to possess.’ 32 You must therefore be careful to do as the Lord your God has commanded you; you shall not turn to the right or to the left. 33 You must follow exactly the path that the Lord your God has commanded you, so that you may live and that it may go well with you and that you may live long in the land that you are to possess.
6 “Now this is the commandment—the statutes and the ordinances—that the Lord your God charged me to teach you to observe in the land that you are about to cross into and occupy, 2 so that you and your children and your children’s children may fear the Lord your God all the days of your life and keep all his decrees and his commandments that I am commanding you, so that your days may be long. 3 Hear therefore, O Israel, and observe them diligently, so that it may go well with you and so that you may multiply greatly in a land flowing with milk and honey, as the Lord, the God of your ancestors, has promised you.
Reflections: We mistakenly think of commandments as rules that have punishment if broken. My first experience with strict rules was in elementary school in the days when teachers paddled. My early Sunday School made the same connection with God’s rules. The real purpose of the commandments is to provide a clear path that must be followed exactly. It is also clear what happens if we do or do not follow that path. There is no punishment needed, you stray right or left and things go badly for you. How is your relationship with God changed if you think of the law as life-giving? As a God who is not like a prison warden or teacher with a paddle?
Wednesday, October 11, 2023 Song of Songs (or Song of Solomon) 8:6-7
Set me as a seal upon your heart,
as a seal upon your arm,
for love is strong as death,
passion fierce as the grave.
Its flashes are flashes of fire,
a raging flame.
7 Many waters cannot quench love,
neither can floods drown it.
If one offered for love
all the wealth of one’s house,
it would be utterly scorned.
Reflection: I love the presence of a book of the Bible that has no laws, wisdom teachings, history, prophecy, or really anything about God and is an erotic poem in the romantic voices of two lovers. What does this say about the nature of God who creates all good things? The nature of love in all its forms?
Thursday, October 12, 2023 – Psalm 23:1
The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.
Adonai (Lord, Master) is my shepherd (guide, protector, provider) I lack nothing.
Reflection – Sometimes something like the 23rd Psalm, can be so familiar to us it loses its impact. When we think of Lord or Master we think of a boss or dictator – “do as I say or else”. Here it is redefined as Shepherd and one that is not interested in control only in providing for the sheep even at the risk of their own life. What does this say about who we are and how God relates to us? And in a world that is constantly trying to convince us we are needy and should always be acquiring more how is your life changed if you say, “I lack nothing.” Full stop. I am the wealthiest person in the world because I have what I need – isn’t that the definition of wealth?
Friday, October 13, 2023 – James 4:4-10
4 Adulterers! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God. 5 Or do you suppose that the scripture speaks to no purpose? Does the spirit that God caused to dwell in us desire envy? 6 But God gives all the more grace; therefore it says,
“God opposes the proud
but gives grace to the humble.”
7 Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. 8 Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. 9 Lament and mourn and weep. Let your laughter be turned into mourning and your joy into dejection. 10 Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will exalt you.
Reflections: James has strong words for anyone who is unfaithful to God calling them out like someone who is unfaithful in marriage. Marriage unfaithfulness involves guilt, shame, anger, hurt, brokenness, judgment – but doesn’t unfaithfulness to God go unnoticed? What if our fidelity, our faithfulness, and our trust in God was taken as seriously as marriage vows? Taken more seriously? You and I make the choice of faithfulness everyday even if we are unaware. What is your choice today? How have you found that temptation creeps up on you when you haven’t been paying attention to resisting?
9 But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s own people, in order that you may proclaim the excellence of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.
10 Once you were not a people, but now you are God’s people; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.
Reflections: Look in the mirror and say it loud and proud. “Once I was a nobody but now I am God’s.” and consider, “Once my world was merciless, now mercy surrounds me.”
Tuesday, October 10, 2023 Deuteronomy 5:31-6:3
God is speaking to Moses. 31 But you, stand here by me, and I will tell you all the commandments, the statutes and the ordinances, that you shall teach them, so that they may do them in the land that I am giving them to possess.’ 32 You must therefore be careful to do as the Lord your God has commanded you; you shall not turn to the right or to the left. 33 You must follow exactly the path that the Lord your God has commanded you, so that you may live and that it may go well with you and that you may live long in the land that you are to possess.
6 “Now this is the commandment—the statutes and the ordinances—that the Lord your God charged me to teach you to observe in the land that you are about to cross into and occupy, 2 so that you and your children and your children’s children may fear the Lord your God all the days of your life and keep all his decrees and his commandments that I am commanding you, so that your days may be long. 3 Hear therefore, O Israel, and observe them diligently, so that it may go well with you and so that you may multiply greatly in a land flowing with milk and honey, as the Lord, the God of your ancestors, has promised you.
Reflections: We mistakenly think of commandments as rules that have punishment if broken. My first experience with strict rules was in elementary school in the days when teachers paddled. My early Sunday School made the same connection with God’s rules. The real purpose of the commandments is to provide a clear path that must be followed exactly. It is also clear what happens if we do or do not follow that path. There is no punishment needed, you stray right or left and things go badly for you. How is your relationship with God changed if you think of the law as life-giving? As a God who is not like a prison warden or teacher with a paddle?
Wednesday, October 11, 2023 Song of Songs (or Song of Solomon) 8:6-7
Set me as a seal upon your heart,
as a seal upon your arm,
for love is strong as death,
passion fierce as the grave.
Its flashes are flashes of fire,
a raging flame.
7 Many waters cannot quench love,
neither can floods drown it.
If one offered for love
all the wealth of one’s house,
it would be utterly scorned.
Reflection: I love the presence of a book of the Bible that has no laws, wisdom teachings, history, prophecy, or really anything about God and is an erotic poem in the romantic voices of two lovers. What does this say about the nature of God who creates all good things? The nature of love in all its forms?
Thursday, October 12, 2023 – Psalm 23:1
The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.
Adonai (Lord, Master) is my shepherd (guide, protector, provider) I lack nothing.
Reflection – Sometimes something like the 23rd Psalm, can be so familiar to us it loses its impact. When we think of Lord or Master we think of a boss or dictator – “do as I say or else”. Here it is redefined as Shepherd and one that is not interested in control only in providing for the sheep even at the risk of their own life. What does this say about who we are and how God relates to us? And in a world that is constantly trying to convince us we are needy and should always be acquiring more how is your life changed if you say, “I lack nothing.” Full stop. I am the wealthiest person in the world because I have what I need – isn’t that the definition of wealth?
Friday, October 13, 2023 – James 4:4-10
4 Adulterers! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God. 5 Or do you suppose that the scripture speaks to no purpose? Does the spirit that God caused to dwell in us desire envy? 6 But God gives all the more grace; therefore it says,
“God opposes the proud
but gives grace to the humble.”
7 Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. 8 Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. 9 Lament and mourn and weep. Let your laughter be turned into mourning and your joy into dejection. 10 Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will exalt you.
Reflections: James has strong words for anyone who is unfaithful to God calling them out like someone who is unfaithful in marriage. Marriage unfaithfulness involves guilt, shame, anger, hurt, brokenness, judgment – but doesn’t unfaithfulness to God go unnoticed? What if our fidelity, our faithfulness, and our trust in God was taken as seriously as marriage vows? Taken more seriously? You and I make the choice of faithfulness everyday even if we are unaware. What is your choice today? How have you found that temptation creeps up on you when you haven’t been paying attention to resisting?
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