heavenly parent

Good morning friends,

Not everyone has good memories of their family, but for many of us thinking of our parents reminds us of safety and care. Paul reminds his readers that God is like a parent for us in all the good ways. God cares for us and wants to build us up. The passage closes by reminding us that God’s ability to work through us is bigger than anything we can imagine. No matter what challenges we face, God is full of surprises.

God bless,
Sam

Ephesians 3:14-21

¹⁴For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, ¹⁵from whom every family in heaven and on earth takes its name. ¹⁶I pray that, according to the riches of his glory, he may grant that you may be strengthened in your inner being with power through his Spirit, ¹⁷and that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith, as you are being rooted and grounded in love. ¹⁸I pray that you may have the power to comprehend, with all the saints, what is the breadth and length and height and depth, ¹⁹and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, so that you may be filled with all the fullness of God. 

²⁰Now to him who by the power at work within us is able to accomplish abundantly far more than all we can ask or imagine, ²¹to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen.    

asked of the Lord

Good afternoon friends,
We read yesterday about Hannah's prayer for a son; today we see that prayer fulfilled. Hannah in tern fulfills her promise to God. As soon as she weans her son, Samuel, she brings him to the temple in Shiloh and leaves him with Eli, the priest. It's hard to imagine giving a child to someone who is almost a stranger to raise and care for. It's hard to imagine wanting a child so badly and then trusting him to someone else. But somehow, that is how God's story continues. What can we learn from Hannah about loving a child and loving God?

God bless,
Sam


1 Samuel 1:19-28
¹⁹They rose early in the morning and worshiped before the Lord; then they went back to their house at Ramah. Elkanah knew his wife Hannah, and the Lord remembered her. ²⁰In due time Hannah conceived and bore a son. She named him Samuel, for she said, “I have asked him of the Lord.” ²¹The man Elkanah and all his household went up to offer to the Lord the yearly sacrifice, and to pay his vow. ²²But Hannah did not go up, for she said to her husband, “As soon as the child is weaned, I will bring him, that he may appear in the presence of the Lord, and remain there forever; I will offer him as a nazirite for all time.” ²³Her husband Elkanah said to her, “Do what seems best to you, wait until you have weaned him; only—may the Lord establish his word.”


So the woman remained and nursed her son, until she weaned him. ²⁴When she had weaned him, she took him up with her, along with a three-year-old bull, an ephah of flour, and a skin of wine. She brought him to the house of the Lord at Shiloh; and the child was young. ²⁵Then they slaughtered the bull, and they brought the child to Eli. ²⁶And she said, “Oh, my lord! As you live, my lord, I am the woman who was standing here in your presence, praying to the Lord. ²⁷For this child I prayed; and the Lord has granted me the petition that I made to him. ²⁸Therefore I have lent him to the Lord; as long as he lives, he is given to the Lord.” She left him there for the Lord.

idols and parenting

Good morning friends,
Sorry to miss yesterday's reading. The short version is that after delivering the Ten Commandments the people saw a cloud of God's glory settling on Mt. Sinai and Moses went up to speak with God and spent 40 days there. Today we see that 40 days was too long for the people to be without Moses. They felt scared and abandoned so they asked Aaron to make gods for them. This is a troubling reading because it reminds us how often we turn away from God, though usually less dramatically. The comic relief in the reading is that Moses and God act like frustrated parents. Notice how each calls the people, "Your people, who you brought out of Egypt." Fortunately, Moses stands up for the people and God's mercy prevails.

Blessings on your weekend,
Sam

Exodus 32:1-14

1When the people saw that Moses delayed to come down from the mountain, the people gathered around Aaron, and said to him, “Come, make gods for us, who shall go before us; as for this Moses, the man who brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him.” 2Aaron said to them, “Take off the gold rings that are on the ears of your wives, your sons, and your daughters, and bring them to me.” 3So all the people took off the gold rings from their ears, and brought them to Aaron. 4He took the gold from them, formed it in a mold, and cast an image of a calf; and they said, “These are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt!” 5When Aaron saw this, he built an altar before it; and Aaron made proclamation and said, “Tomorrow shall be a festival to the LORD.” 6They rose early the next day, and offered burnt offerings and brought sacrifices of well-being; and the people sat down to eat and drink, and rose up to revel.



7The LORD said to Moses, “Go down at once! Your people, whom you brought up out of the land of Egypt, have acted perversely; 8they have been quick to turn aside from the way that I commanded them; they have cast for themselves an image of a calf, and have worshiped it and sacrificed to it, and said, ‘These are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt!’” 9The LORD said to Moses, “I have seen this people, how stiff-necked they are. 10Now let me alone, so that my wrath may burn hot against them and I may consume them; and of you I will make a great nation.”



11But Moses implored the LORD his God, and said, “O LORD, why does your wrath burn hot against your people, whom you brought out of the land of Egypt with great power and with a mighty hand? 12Why should the Egyptians say, ‘It was with evil intent that he brought them out to kill them in the mountains, and to consume them from the face of the earth’? Turn from your fierce wrath; change your mind and do not bring disaster on your people. 13Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, your servants, how you swore to them by your own self, saying to them, ‘I will multiply your descendants like the stars of heaven, and all this land that I have promised I will give to your descendants, and they shall inherit it forever.’” 14And the LORD changed his mind about the disaster that he planned to bring on his people.

strength in hardship

Good morning friends,
Our author has just reminded the readers of Jesus' steadfastness in the face of opposition. Today he moves on to address their situation. It seems the Christians to whom Hebrews was written were discouraged and faced some kind of persecution. Elsewhere in the letter it mentions loss of property and here it says, "You have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood." The goal is to encourage them in their difficulties now so that even if the time comes later for them to shed blood for their faith they will be ready.

The author also compares the hardship these Christians are facing to a parent's discipline. It's sort of surprising to think of persecution under the heading of God's discipline, since persecution comes usually when we are doing right for God rather than doing something for which we need correction. Maybe the bigger point is that the suffering comes in the process of growing in faith and helps us in that growth process. The author's hope is that with proper encouragement and teaching these difficulties will build up the church rather than discourage them. I pray God would also turn our hardships into learning to deepen and strengthen our faith.

God bless,
Sam


Hebrews 12:4-17
4In your struggle against sin you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood. 5And you have forgotten the exhortation that addresses you as children— “My child, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord, or lose heart when you are punished by him; 6for the Lord disciplines those whom he loves, and chastises every child whom he accepts.” 7Endure trials for the sake of discipline. God is treating you as children; for what child is there whom a parent does not discipline? 8If you do not have that discipline in which all children share, then you are illegitimate and not his children.

9Moreover, we had human parents to discipline us, and we respected them. Should we not be even more willing to be subject to the Father of spirits and live? 10For they disciplined us for a short time as seemed best to them, but he disciplines us for our good, in order that we may share his holiness. 11Now, discipline always seems painful rather than pleasant at the time, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.

12Therefore lift your drooping hands and strengthen your weak knees, 13and make straight paths for your feet, so that what is lame may not be put out of joint, but rather be healed. 14Pursue peace with everyone, and the holiness without which no one will see the Lord. 15See to it that no one fails to obtain the grace of God; that no root of bitterness springs up and causes trouble, and through it many become defiled. 16See to it that no one becomes like Esau, an immoral and godless person, who sold his birthright for a single meal. 17You know that later, when he wanted to inherit the blessing, he was rejected, for he found no chance to repent, even though he sought the blessing with tears.