Monday, September 8
Genesis 1:26-31
Then God said, “Let us make humans in our image, according to our likeness, and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the air and over the cattle and over all the wild animals of the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps upon the earth.”
So God created humans in his image,
in the image of God he created them;
male and female he created them.
God blessed them, and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the air and over every living thing that moves upon the earth.” God said, “See, I have given you every plant yielding seed that is upon the face of all the earth and every tree with seed in its fruit; you shall have them for food. And to every beast of the earth and to every bird of the air and to everything that creeps on the earth, everything that has the breath of life, I have given every green plant for food.” And it was so. God saw everything that he had made, and indeed, it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day.
This past Sunday Pastor Paul began a sermon series called, “Unlocking the Bible,” a metaphor that he is using to describe the Bible is a treasure chest. In this series he’s sharing four keys that will help unlock the Bible or this treasure chest.
One key is reading the Bible. And thanks in advance for reading these devotions. You have a key to unlocking the Bible!
For the next four weeks during this series we’ll look at Scriptures that are very important—half from the Old Testament and half from the New Testament.
In this Scripture we learn about the goodness of humans. One powerful part of this creation story is the description of humans. Humans are remade in the image and likeness of God. Twice we read about this, in these verses—in verse 26 and verse 27.
At the end of this story God looked at the humans he created and described that humans were very good. Each day in this story God had declared that what was created was good. Now at the pinnacle of this story—the 6th day or last day of when God was creating, humans were described as very good.
We don’t often think of humans as very good. It’s easy to see the problems in the world and the problems that humans have caused. We don’t often see stories of humans described as very good.
Except we read about it in these verses in Genesis.
Why don’t you think humans are often described as very good? Please share
How about if for the next 24 hours you do your best at communicating that humans are very good?
Tuesday, September 9
Genesis 12:1-9
Now the Lord said to Abram, “Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you. I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and the one who curses you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”
So Abram went, as the Lord had told him, and Lot went with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he departed from Haran. Abram took his wife Sarai and his brother’s son Lot and all the possessions that they had gathered and the persons whom they had acquired in Haran, and they set forth to go to the land of Canaan. When they had come to the land of Canaan, Abram passed through the land to the place at Shechem, to the oak of Moreh. At that time the Canaanites were in the land. Then the Lord appeared to Abram and said, “To your offspring I will give this land.” So he built there an altar to the Lord, who had appeared to him. From there he moved on to the hill country on the east of Bethel and pitched his tent, with Bethel on the west and Ai on the east, and there he built an altar to the Lord and invoked the name of the Lord. And Abram journeyed on by stages toward the Negeb.
Some believe that these verses should be the start of the Bible. This is the start of the story of the lineage to the nation of Israel and Judah and the lineage of Jesus. Abram was asked by God to leave his country and his kindred to go to a land far away.
God promised Abram that God would make a great nation from Abram’s descendants and bless Abram on this journey.
Abram took his family with him and his nephew Lot. He was seventy-five years old when he left on this grand journey.
It took great faith for Abram to leave everything to go on this journey. We read three chapters later in Genesis 15:6 that Abram believed God and saw it as righteousness.
This story is part of a covenant. It was a promise by God to Abram. Some people believe that the term Old Testament or first testament should be phrased as old or first covenant.
This promise by God extends to each of us. We are descendants of Abram and this covenant.
What does it mean to you that you are a descendant of Abram? Please share.
Wednesday, September 10
Exodus 14:10-14
As Pharaoh drew near, the Israelites looked back, and there were the Egyptians advancing on them. In great fear the Israelites cried out to the Lord. They said to Moses, “Was it because there were no graves in Egypt that you have taken us away to die in the wilderness? What have you done to us, bringing us out of Egypt? Is this not the very thing we told you in Egypt, ‘Let us alone so that we can serve the Egyptians’? For it would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the wilderness.” But Moses said to the people, “Do not be afraid, stand firm, and see the deliverance that the Lord will accomplish for you today, for the Egyptians whom you see today you shall never see again. The Lord will fight for you, and you have only to keep still.”
The story of the exodus or the liberation of the Israelites from Pharaoh or Egypt is a central story in the Old Testament. God asked Moses to go to Egypt and tell Pharaoh to let the people go. Pharaoh refused this request of Moses. Through plagues and ultimately the death of the first born of all Egyptian males, Pharaoh let the people go.
But Pharaoh had second thoughts. In this story Moses and the Israelites were trapped. In front of the Israelites was the Red Sea; in back of the Israelites was the advancing armies of Pharaoh.
The Israelites were trapped—and afraid—and they took their fear out on Moses. Moses responded to being trapped by sharing this declaration to the people.
“Do not be afraid, stand firm, and see the deliverance that the Lord will accomplish for you today, for the Egyptians whom you see today you shall never see again. The Lord will fight for you, and you have only to keep still.” Exodus 15:13-14
What do these words mean to you? Please share.
Thursday, September 11
Exodus 20:1-17
Then God spoke all these words,
“I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery; you shall have no other gods before me.
“You shall not make for yourself an idol, whether in the form of anything that is in heaven above or that is on the earth beneath or that is in the water under the earth. You shall not bow down to them or serve them, for I the Lord your God am a jealous God, punishing children for the iniquity of parents to the third and the fourth generation of those who reject me but showing steadfast love to the thousandth generation of those who love me and keep my commandments.
“You shall not make wrongful use of the name of the Lord your God, for the Lord will not acquit anyone who misuses his name.
“Remember the Sabbath day and keep it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work. But the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God; you shall not do any work—you, your son or your daughter, your male or female slave, your livestock, or the alien resident in your towns. For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but rested the seventh day; therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and consecrated it.
“Honor your father and your mother, so that your days may be long in the land that the Lord your God is giving you.
“You shall not murder.
“You shall not commit adultery.
“You shall not steal.
“You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.
“You shall not covet your neighbor’s house; you shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, male or female slave, ox, donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor.”
We know of this verse, of course, as the 10 Commandments. We can also find them in Deuteronomy 5.
The first four commandments are about our relationship to God and how to follow God; the last six commandments are about our relationship to other humans.
These Commandments are worth memorizing. Consider memorizing one a day for the next ten days.
Did you learn or memorize these Commandments when you were younger?
And what do these Commandments mean to you today? Please share.
Friday, September 12
Deuteronomy 6:1-9
“Now this is the commandment—the statutes and the ordinances—that the Lord your God charged me to teach you to observe in the land that you are about to cross into and occupy, so that you and your children and your children’s children may fear the Lord your God all the days of your life and keep all his decrees and his commandments that I am commanding you, so that your days may be long. Hear therefore, O Israel, and observe them diligently, so that it may go well with you and so that you may multiply greatly in a land flowing with milk and honey, as the Lord, the God of your ancestors, has promised you.
“Hear, O Israel: The Lord is our God, the Lord alone. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. Keep these words that I am commanding you today in your heart. Recite them to your children and talk about them when you are at home and when you are away, when you lie down and when you rise. Bind them as a sign on your hand, fix them as an emblem on your forehead, and write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.
These words by Moses to the Israelites were words that God wanted the Israelites to embrace when they crossed the Jordan and went into the Promised Land. Verses four and five are most significant.
“Hear [Shema], O Israel: The Lord is our god, the Lord alone. You shall love the Lord your god with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your might.” Deuteronomy 6:4-5
These words are worth memorizing.
What are your thoughts about these two verses? Please share.
Saturday, September 13
Psalm 23
The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.
He makes me lie down in green pastures;
he leads me beside still waters;
he restores my soul.
He leads me in right paths
for his name’s sake.
Even though I walk through the darkest valley,
I fear no evil,
for you are with me;
your rod and your staff,
they comfort me.
You prepare a table before me
in the presence of my enemies;
you anoint my head with oil;
my cup overflows.
Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me
all the days of my life,
and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord
my whole life long.
This Psalm is probably the best known Psalm of the 150 Psalms that are in the Bible. It is often read at funerals. Which is comforting. And this Psalm gives us help in our daily lives.
We read that God is our shepherd. This metaphor is helpful as we see God as someone who is always looking out for us. The shepherd helps us and leads us beside still waters and restores our soul.
Even when we go through hard times, the good shepherd is with us. God hasn’t abandoned us when life turns difficult. Sometimes, and often when we don’t even realize it—God is carrying us through these hard times.
Goodness and mercy will always be with us. What a beautiful promise.
What are some of your takeaways from the 23rd Psalm? Please share.