Today the tribes of Israel camp in perfect order around God's tabernacle, David gives God reasons for every request in Psalm 86, and Paul walks into Jerusalem and straight into trouble.
Numbers 2
📖 What are we reading?: God shows how the twelve tribes are to be arranged around the camp and on the march, with the tabernacle at the centre.
✞ What does this passage say about God? He is a God of order, not chaos. He places His people around His presence.
🛐 How does this passage teach us to live? Keep God at the centre of your life, and let Him bring order to your days.
Looking for some extra info?
➡️ The bigger picture: Numbers, named for the censuses of God's people, was written by Moses around 1400 BC, and tells of Israel's journey through the wilderness towards the Promised Land.
Psalm 86
📖 What are we reading?: A heartfelt prayer of David, in which he cries out for help and gives God reason after reason to answer.
✞ What does this passage say about God? He is good, forgiving and full of love, and no other god compares to Him. David trusts that He hears every cry.
🛐 How does this passage teach us to live? Notice how often David says "for" or "because" as he prays. Let's give God our reasons for trusting Him, and then join David in praise and worship.
Looking for some extra info?
♫ Worship through Psalm 86 with Luke.
📝 A series of devotions based on Psalm 86.
➡️ 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 21:17-36
📖 What are we reading?: Paul reports to James and the elders in Jerusalem, and joins four men in a Nazirite vow. Jews from Asia then stir up a riot against him, and he is arrested.
✞ What does this passage say about God? He is with His servants even when things go badly wrong. Paul walks into this storm in obedience, and God has not left him.
🛐 How does this passage teach us to live? Paul joined the vow to show he had not completely turned from his Jewish roots. Let's be willing to build bridges wherever we can, without compromising the gospel. And we shouldn't be surprised when the good we do is still met with opposition.
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 bring order to Your people and place Yourself at the centre of our lives. Help us to bring You our needs with trust, as David did, and to stay faithful to You like Paul, even when the crowds turn against us. Amen.
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