Week 10 Tuesday
Today God provides manna for grumbling Israel, the psalmist laments a bitter defeat despite past victories, and Jesus is crucified, forgiving to the very end.
Exodus 16
📖 What are we reading?: Not long after their deliverance, the Israelites begin to grumble about food, and God provides manna from heaven to sustain them.
✞ What does this passage say about God?: He patiently provides for His people even in their grumbling. His provision of manna foreshadows His greater provision of Jesus, the "Bread of Life".
🛐 How does this passage teach us to live?: How like the Israelites we are! Let us quit our grumbling and be thankful for God's provision today. Let us also take time to rest each week, as God is getting His people to do here.
Looking for some extra info?
♫ A classic hymn recognising Jesus as "the Bread of Heaven".
➡️ 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 44
📖 What are we reading?: A psalm of lament, recalling past victories won by God's power alone, now grieving a bitter defeat.
✞ What does this passage say about God?: He is our King and our God (verse 4), the only one who can bring true victory over enemies. Not every difficulty or tough season is a result of us rejecting Him.
🛐 How does this passage teach us to live?: We should not trust in our swords or bows (whatever they might represent in modern life), but in God alone. He should be our boast, all day long (verse 8). Paul quotes verse 22 as the norm for the Christian life.
Looking for some extra info?
➡️ 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 23:26-49
📖 What are we reading?: Simon of Cyrene is made to carry Jesus' cross, and Jesus is crucified between two criminals - forgiving those who crucify Him, promising paradise to the repentant thief, and finally breathing His last with a cry of trust to the Father.
✞ What does this passage say about God?: Behold the Lamb of God, who dies on a cross for the sins of the world!
🛐 How does this passage teach us to live?: Simon of Cyrene helps Jesus carry His cross - what would it look like for us to carry Christ's cross today? May we, like the Centurion, praise God and revere Jesus as we read this passage.
Looking for some extra info?
📝 Luke's devotions on Jesus' death on the cross, from the Holy Week series "Behold the Lamb of God".
♫ Songs abound about this amazing moment in history. Perhaps today you’d like to listen to this song about Simon carrying Jesus’ cross, or this song about the thief dying next to Jesus, or this one about the Centurion who saw and believed. For something more traditional, here is a powerful hymn about the wondrous cross, or for something more unusual, this forgotten hymn about the amazing sight of Jesus on the cross.
➡️ 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, forgive us for grumbling like Israel when You are always providing for us; teach us to press into You, not away, when Your face feels hidden; and thank You that even on the cross, Your words were full of forgiveness and trust in the Father. Amen.
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