Week 10 Monday
Today God rescues Israel through the Red Sea and heals their bitter waters, the psalmist calls his own soul to hope, and Pilate compromises under pressure at Jesus' trial.
Exodus 14-15
📖 What are we reading?: God parts the Red Sea so Israel can cross on dry ground, and drowns Pharaoh's pursuing army - after which Moses and Miriam immediately break into song. Then, at Marah, God turns bitter water sweet, an event with an important lesson.
✞ What does this passage say about God?: What a God we serve! He fights for His people and reveals Himself here as “the LORD, who heals you”.
🛐 How does this passage teach us to live?: God’s expectations are clear – we are to listen carefully to Him and do what is right in His eyes, paying attention to His commands and keeping all his decrees. Consider also how the people praised God after their deliverance – do we?
Looking for some extra info?
♫ A worship session reflecting on the victorious song of Moses and Miriam in Exodus 15.
➡️ The bigger picture: Exodus, meaning "departure", was written by Moses around 1400 BC, and tells of Israel's miraculous deliverance from slavery in Egypt - a rescue Israel was called to remember for generations, and a picture of Christ's greater deliverance from sin.
Psalm 43
📖 What are we reading?: A short psalm so similar to the one before it that some Bibles link the two together as one.
✞ What does this passage say about God?: He is our stronghold and our exceeding joy - worth going to the altar for.
🛐 How does this passage teach us to live?: Let verse 5 be one that sticks in your mind today - the psalmist preaching hope to his own downcast soul, and putting his hope in God.
Looking for some extra info?
♫ A beautiful song based on this Psalm by Sandra McCracken.
♫ A modern favourite worship song which the last verse of this Psalm brought to my mind.
➡️ The bigger picture: The Psalms is a collection of 150 poems and songs, written by David and others, expressing the full range of human emotion in response to God and to life.
Luke 23:1-25
📖 What are we reading?: Jesus stands trial before Pilate, who finds no fault in Him, and then before Herod, before Pilate finally bends to the crowd's demands and sentences Jesus to death.
✞ What does this passage say about God?: Pilate's declaration that he finds no fault in Jesus is an eerily accurate statement - Jesus really was completely without sin.
🛐 How does this passage teach us to live?: Pilate knew the right thing to do, yet compromised under pressure from the crowd. A warning to us to stand firm for truth and justice, whatever the crowd around us demands.
Looking for some extra info?
📝 A devotional by Luke on Pilate's compromise during this trial.
➡️ The bigger picture: Luke's Gospel was written by Luke, a Greek physician and companion of Paul, around AD 60-62. It is the most detailed account of Jesus' life, and is especially attentive to the poor, to women, and to outcasts.
A Prayer for the Day
🙏 Lord, thank You that You are the God who saves and heals, as You did at the Red Sea and at Marah; teach us, like the psalmist, to put our hope in You when we are downcast; and give us courage to stand firm for what is right, rather than compromising like Pilate. Amen.
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