Today´s reading:
OT: Deuteronomy 9, Deuteronomy 10
NT: Luke 8:4-21
Ps: Psalm 69:19-36
Pr: Proverbs 12:2-3
Today´s notable verses:
When I went up on the mountain to receive the tablets of stone, the tablets of the covenant that the LORD had made with you, I stayed on the mountain forty days and forty nights; I ate no bread and drank no water.
Deuteronomy 9:9 (NIV)
Then once again I fell prostrate before the LORD for forty days and forty nights; I ate no bread and drank no water, because of all the sin you had committed, doing what was evil in the LORD's sight and so provoking him to anger.
Deuteronomy 9:18 (NIV)
Moses fasted for eighty days straight!
But the seed on good soil stands for those with a noble and good heart, who hear the word, retain it, and by persevering produce a crop.
Luke 8:15 (NIV)
One word jumped out at me, as if for the first time, while reading the parable of the Sower: persevering. It is by our perseverance that the Seed planted in us produces a crop. It is perseverance to which we are called. Ours is not to struggle, but to stand firm:
Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand.
Ephesians 6:13 (NIV)
I think sometimes as Christians we try to take on too much of the struggle ourselves, rather than let God fight the battles He has told us are His to fight. In the grand scheme, our primary job is to hold our own ground. Now, that doesn't mean that we don't have very real struggles with very real responsibility to overcome them in our own lives. But our tactical battles are only a part of the overall strategy of the Great War - a war that has already been won, God's strategy having defeated our enemy already.
The One Year Bible Blog asks:
Okay, I'm really getting into the New Living Translation little commentary headers before sections of our readings - as I discussed in yesterday's post, these are not from the original text so should not be considered Biblical text. Nonetheless, I personally do find them useful. And I really do like the first header in Deuteronomy chapter 9 today in the NLT - "Victory by God's Grace." You'll note that you won't actually find the word "grace" in any of the verses that follow. However, I think we do get a good overview of how grace works in this section...
The same thought struck me: that the underlying theme of this passage was God's grace. The line that focused my attention on grace was this one:
Now I had stayed on the mountain forty days and nights, as I did the first time, and the LORD listened to me at this time also. It was not his will to destroy you.
Deuteronomy 10:10 (NIV)
Through all of Israel's rebellion, the one thing God desparately wanted to demonstrate was His love and grace for His chosen people - love and grace that extend to us today, three thousand years later!
