Week 17 Tuesday
Today God longs for His people to be holy and set apart, the psalmist urges us to pass on our knowledge of God to the next generation, and the Bereans search the Scriptures to see if the good news is true.
Leviticus 20
📖 What are we reading?: God sets out the punishments for the sins named in the previous chapters, and they are severe.
✞ What does this passage say about God?: He longed for His people to be holy and separate from the ways of the other cultures.
🛐 How does this passage teach us to live?: Verses 7 and 8 again show us how we should live. Remember too that Jesus took a new approach. Instead of killing those who had sinned in these ways, He offered them grace and told them to "sin no more".
Looking for some extra info?
➡️ 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 78:1-39
📖 What are we reading?: The psalmist retells Israel's history, and urges each generation to pass on what they know of God to the next.
✞ What does this passage say about God?: He takes our trust very seriously - notice verses 21-22. But notice also His mercy in verse 38!
🛐 How does this passage teach us to live?: We must pass on our knowledge of God to the next generations, so that they live holy and God-honouring lives.
Looking for some extra info?
📝 A devotion on Psalm 78:37-38, "Yet God is Merciful".
➡️ 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 17:1-15
📖 What are we reading?: Paul and his group of missionaries meet resistance in Thessalonica, and then similar resistance in Berea. Some of the words in Paul's letters to the Thessalonians make sense in light of this.
✞ What does this passage say about God?: He keeps His message moving forward through opposition, and shows from the Scriptures that Jesus is the Christ who suffered and rose again.
🛐 How does this passage teach us to live?: Perhaps verse 11 should describe us - searching the Scriptures to see if the good news of Jesus is true!
Looking for some extra info?
➡️ 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 holy and merciful. Help us to pass on our knowledge of You to the next generation, to live set apart for You, and to search Your Word with eager hearts every day. Amen.
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