March 13: 2 Kings 5:3-7
Key Verse: 2 Kings 5:5
‘By all means, go,’ the king of Aram replied. ‘I will send a letter to the king of Israel.’ So Naaman left, taking with him ten talents of silver, six thousand shekels of gold and ten sets of clothing.
Devotion:
In amongst all of this conflict, God chose to use a young girl to reach an influential person in the king of Aram’s army: the commander! This young girl was taken captive and she was set to work serving the kings wife. When she heard Naaman had leprosy her faith sprang into action and she told the commanders wife he should get to see the prophet who was in Samaria and he alone would be able to cure Naaman. You can imagine the conflict here, she was serving the wife of the commander against which her people were fighting! And yet she chose to listen to her heart, a heart God had filled with love for all His people, including her enemies!
This is the strength of her faith – that God would sort out the other details when she gave some information to the wife. She could not imagine the steps which happened next. First Naaman went to the king and asked if he could have time off to go and get healed by this prophet. The king was so indebted to Naaman for all he had accomplished for the army, he agreed to let him go and see the prophet in amongst his enemies!
Naaman didn’t quite get it! He took with him all manner of riches to try and pay for something God was going to do. He didn’t have a clue who was the power behind Israel! He got a letter from his king and he took that letter to the king of Israel! The girl had clearly told him to see the prophet, but he took his position and riches and went directly to the king instead.
If we don’t listen to God and take notice of what people are saying when they are telling us something from God, then we are going to miss the big picture and focus on the things we can think of. Not what God does! Nothing is impossible with God, but it takes a human to really mess things up before God!
Points to Ponder:
Are you listening to God?
Or are you listening to what you think God should tell you?
March 12: John 4:27
Key Verse: John 4:27
Just then his disciples returned and were surprised to find him talking with a woman. But no one asked, ‘What do you want?’ or ‘Why are you talking with her?’
Devotion:
This verse comes from the passage where Jesus had just been speaking with the Samaritan woman; something to be frowned upon in those days, not just because He dared to speak openly to a strange woman, but on top of that it was a Samaritan woman and not an Israelite! Boy wouldn’t the feminists and anti-racists have a field day with this one!
Jesus was doing what any human should be doing, not excluding others just because they are different. He was doing what God wanted Him to do; to invite people to get to know Him more and to form a relationship between the person and God! I do love pointing this story out when people get upset about someone who is different coming into their group!
Jesus was very different, and yet He chose to come and live amongst sinful mankind! He dared to befriend anyone who was seeking the truth and anyone who wanted to get to know God in their hearts. This is what He meant when He said we should love our neighbours – not build big walls to exclude them or make laws to prevent them crossing an ocean!
Yes there has to be laws and people need to follow them, but many of our laws are making rifts between us instead of bringing us together. Many laws exclude people just because they are different. Why can’t we take a leaf out of Jesus’ book and show mercy and love to anyone who is seeking companionship and communion!
Points to Ponder:
Who do you inadvertently exclude?
Will you try to be more inclusive like Christ?
March 11: Micah 7:18-20
Key Verse: Micah 7:18
Who is a God like you, who pardons sin and forgives the transgression of the remnant of his inheritance? You do not stay angry for ever but delight to show mercy.
Devotion:
How many times have you had to ask someone to forgive you for doing something wrong? How many times have you been willing to forgive someone else for doing wrong against you? How many of those times did you get angry because you did not want to forgive them? How many times did you object just a little bit too much and continued to make them wait on you...
God is very different to us when it comes to showing mercy and love. His love for us goes far beyond anything we can think of and far beyond our own limitations. When we give in and get angry, God continues to forgive and wait. When we don’t want to forgive – God finds a way to make forgiveness possible!
The longer we hold on to grudges and the longer we hold out before we forgive, the darker and deeper our anger and ill feelings become. Unless we are willing and able to put aside the ill feeling we have toward others, we will continue to harbour bad feelings and continue to get caught up in sins we don’t realise.
We have grown to expect God to forgive and forget. It’s it time for us to move forward and be willing to forgive and forget those who sin against us. Jesus hinted at this in the prayer He taught the disciples – forgive us as we forgive others. God wants us to start the ball rolling by forgiving those around us; then we can see a way forward where He will be able to forgive us...
Points to Ponder:
Do you like seeing people being forgiven?
Are you willing to show love through forgiveness?
March 10: Matthew 21:40-43
Key Verse: Matthew 21:43
Therefore I tell you that the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people who will produce its fruit.
Devotion:
One of the ideas which troubles me greatly is the idea put forward here by Jesus – the idea the kingdom of God will be taken away from the people who do nothing about being children of God! What exactly does a child of God mean in this context. We could glibly say a child of God is someone who believes and trusts in God, someone God has call His child...
But there are two sides to most coins and this is not going to be any different. In this context Jesus was telling the people a parable about a man who who rented his vineyard to other people. When the time of the harvest came, he sent his servants to collect his fruit, to collect his harvest. Now, we are not told the intricacies of the deal they struck up with the vineyard owner, so we can’t comment on that other than the owner obviously was expecting to get some of the harvest!
When the people who rented the vineyard turned their backs on the deal and did terrible things to the servants he sent, what do you think he thought of the tenants? Now Jesus turns this parable back into context by comparing this vineyard and owner to God and the kingdom of heaven. He sent His Son, Jesus, and we, the people, killed Him! Now you get the picture!
Jesus knew this was going to happen, because He was telling the parable, and He knew who would do the deed and who would continue to follow Him… He still came and stepped up to give His life for us – that is how much he loves the people who DO what He asks. If we don’t do what God asks, we are no better than the people who killed His Son. That’s the scary part – we should be doing God’s will in our lives!
Points to Ponder:
Have you asked God what it is He wants you to do?
Are you ready to listen to Him?