Week 9 Monday
Today Egypt reels under three more plagues, David gasps out a raw and honest prayer for help, and Jesus outwits every trap His enemies set for Him.
Exodus 8
📖 What are we reading?: Three more plagues strike Egypt - frogs, gnats, and flies.
✞ What does this passage say about God?: He shows His power over all creation in these plagues, and again His superiority over the Egyptian gods - the very reptiles and insects the Egyptians revered.
🛐 How does this passage teach us to live?: Notice Pharaoh's pattern in verses 8 and 15 - he begs for relief the moment trouble strikes, then hardens his heart the moment it lifts. Let's ask whether our own repentance runs any deeper than his.
Looking for some extra info?
➡️ 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 38
📖 What are we reading?: David is in a terrible state in this psalm - overwhelmed by guilt, sickness, and abandonment.
✞ What does this passage say about God?: He isn’t far from us in our suffering (verse 21), and He comes quickly to our help when we call (verse 22).
🛐 How does this passage teach us to live?: Even in his state of depression, David connects with his God. We too can go to God in our tough times.
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.
📝 A devotional by Luke on the "oxygen prayer" of verse 22 - "Come quickly to help me, Lord my Saviour".
Luke 20:19-47
📖 What are we reading?: The religious leaders try to trap Jesus over paying taxes to Caesar, the Sadducees needle Him about the resurrection, Jesus turns the tables with a question of His own about the Messiah, and He warns against the show-off religion of the teachers of the law.
✞ What does this passage say about God?: Jesus sees straight through every trap laid for Him, and reveals Himself as far more than David's descendant - He is David's Lord.
🛐 How does this passage teach us to live?: Give to Caesar what is Caesar's, and to God what is God's. And watch out for religion that's for show, dressed in long robes and best seats, but hollow at the heart (verses 46-47).
Looking for some extra info?
➡️ 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, You are greater than every earthly power and every trap set against You. Help us bring our raw, honest cries to You as David did, to give You what is truly Yours, and to keep pretence far from our hearts. Amen.
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