Week 17 Monday
Today God calls His people to live holy, set-apart lives, the psalmist chooses to remember God's goodness in the middle of his struggle, and Paul and Silas sing in prison at midnight.
Leviticus 18-19
📖 What are we reading?: God gives clear laws on sexual purity and on living differently from the nations around Israel (chapter 18), followed by general laws of holiness (chapter 19).
✞ What does this passage say about God?: He is a holy God, and has holy expectations for His people.
🛐 How does this passage teach us to live?: We are to be holy, as He is holy. Take careful note of 18:3-5. Jesus took this even further and said that even thinking about someone lustfully is sinful. How high His standards are! Notice also how 19:11-12 calls us to honesty.
Looking for some extra info?
📝 A devotion about honesty, based on Leviticus 19:11-12.
➡️ The bigger picture: Leviticus, meaning "relating to the Levites", was written by Moses around 1400 BC, and explains how a holy God is to be worshipped by a holy people.
Psalm 77
📖 What are we reading?: The psalmist is struggling. But he makes a choice to remember God's greatness and compassion.
✞ What does this passage say about God?: He is great and compassionate, and remembering who He is gives hope!
🛐 How does this passage teach us to live?: A great lesson for us when we are down - choose to remember what God has done.
Looking for some extra info?
🎤 Luke preaches on Psalm 77 in a message called "Life is Tough".
♫ Worship through Psalm 77 with Luke.
➡️ 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.
Acts 16:16-40
📖 What are we reading?: Paul and Silas are flogged and thrown into prison after casting out a demon. At midnight they sing and pray, and when the jailer tries to take his own life, Paul steps in. Soon he and his household are joyfully baptised.
✞ What does this passage say about God?: He sends a mighty miracle to set His servants free, and uses it to bring the jailer to salvation. How amazing, the way God works!
🛐 How does this passage teach us to live?: Their insistence on singing and praying in their prison is an inspiration! Will we sing and pray in our tough times?
Looking for some extra info?
📝 A devotion on Paul and Silas singing in prison.
📝 A devotion series on how Christians can sing in their prisons, unlike the Israelites in exile.
➡️ The bigger picture: Luke's second book outlines the ministry of the early church - though it could just as well be called the Acts of the Holy Spirit, as He guides and grows Jesus' small movement into something that changes the world.
A Prayer for the Day
🙏 Lord, thank You that You are great and compassionate, and that You work miracles even in the darkest places. Help us to do things Your way, to remember Your goodness when we are down, and to sing and pray, like Paul and Silas, in our own prisons. Amen.
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