50 day journey to Christ - Day 20

Daily Reading:

1 Samuel 16

Holman Christian Standard Bible (HCSB)

16 The Lord said to Samuel, “How long are you going to mourn for Saul, since I have rejected him as king over Israel? Fill your horn with oil and go. I am sending you to Jesse of Bethlehem because I have selected a king from his sons.”

² Samuel asked, “How can I go? Saul will hear about it and kill me!”

The Lord answered, “Take a young cow with you and say, ‘I have come to sacrifice to the Lord.’ ³ Then invite Jesse to the sacrifice, and I will let you know what you are to do. You are to anoint for Me the one I indicate to you.”

⁴ Samuel did what the Lord directed and went to Bethlehem. When the elders of the town met him, they trembled and asked, “Do you come in peace?”

⁵ “In peace,” he replied. “I’ve come to sacrifice to the Lord. Consecrate yourselves and come with me to the sacrifice.” Then he consecrated Jesse and his sons and invited them to the sacrifice. ⁶ When they arrived, Samuel saw Eliab and said, “Certainly the Lord’s anointed one is here before Him.”

⁷ But the Lord said to Samuel, “Do not look at his appearance or his stature, because I have rejected him. Man does not see what the Lord sees, for man sees what is visible, but the Lord sees the heart.”

⁸ Jesse called Abinadab and presented him to Samuel. “The Lord hasn’t chosen this one either,” Samuel said. ⁹ Then Jesse presented Shammah, but Samuel said, “The Lord hasn’t chosen this one either.” ¹⁰ After Jesse presented seven of his sons to him, Samuel told Jesse, “The Lord hasn’t chosen any of these.” ¹¹ Samuel asked him, “Are these all the sons you have?”

“There is still the youngest,” he answered, “but right now he’s tending the sheep.” Samuel told Jesse, “Send for him. We won’t sit down to eat until he gets here.” ¹² So Jesse sent for him. He had beautiful eyes and a healthy, handsome appearance.

Then the Lord said, “Anoint him, for he is the one.” ¹³ So Samuel took the horn of oil, anointed him in the presence of his brothers, and the Spirit of the Lord took control of David from that day forward. Then Samuel set out and went to Ramah.

¹⁴ Now the Spirit of the Lord had left Saul, and an evil spirit sent from the Lord began to torment him, ¹⁵ so Saul’s servants said to him, “You see that an evil spirit from God is tormenting you. ¹⁶ Let our lord command your servants here in your presence to look for someone who knows how to play the lyre. Whenever the evil spirit from God troubles you, that person can play the lyre, and you will feel better.”

¹⁷ Then Saul commanded his servants, “Find me someone who plays well and bring him to me.”

¹⁸ One of the young men answered, “I have seen a son of Jesse of Bethlehem who knows how to play the lyre. He is also a valiant man, a warrior, eloquent, handsome, and the Lord is with him.”

¹⁹ Then Saul dispatched messengers to Jesse and said, “Send me your son David, who is with the sheep.” ²⁰ So Jesse took a donkey loaded with bread, a skin of wine, and one young goat and sent them by his son David to Saul. ²¹ When David came to Saul and entered his service, Saul admired him greatly, and David became his armor-bearer. ²² Then Saul sent word to Jesse: “Let David remain in my service, for I am pleased with him.” ²³ Whenever the spirit from God troubled Saul, David would pick up his lyre and play, and Saul would then be relieved, feel better, and the evil spirit would leave him.

Key:  Purple - Words of God, Bold - Verse of the Day

Daily Reflection:  Todays reading leads us through 2 stories.  The first story, one of a young man, annointed as the future king of Israel, the other of a the beginning of the end of the current king.  David was the youngest of the house of Jesse, a great grandson on Boaz and Ruth.  Annoited with oil, sealed with the Spirit of the Lord.  When the spirit of the Lord was with David it left King Saul and he was tourmented.  Saul sought relief from his agony, through the playings of the lyre, the stringings of the will be king David.   

Discussion Topic: Saul used music to ease his nerves during times of spiritual torment.  Can you identify a time when you sought music out to help ease your mind or relax you?  Is it possible to be that music in someone elses life?  

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Prayer:  Father in Heaven, you are Holy, Holy, Holy.  We enter your gates with thanksgiving in my heart, and into your courts with praise.  Better is one day of service to you, than a thousand elsewhere.  Lord reveal in us opportunities to serve those around us who may be turning to things to ease there torment.  Forgive us for judging the sins of others, as we also learn to forgive those who sin against us.  Lead us away from evil and protect us as we confront torment. for Your Kingdom, in Your Power and because of Your Glory, Amen.  

Acknowledgments:  Text - BibleGateway.com HSCB, Image - Artist Unknown, Image Website - http://www.finaltrump.com/2009/03/the-three-anointings-of-david/

50 day journey to Christ - Day 12

Daily Reading:

Exodus 12

Holman Christian Standard Bible (HCSB)

12 The Lord said to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt: ² “This month is to be the beginning of months for you; it is the first month of your year. 
³ Tell the whole community of Israel that on the tenth day of this month they must each select an animal of the flock according to their fathers’ households, one animal per household. ⁴ If the household is too small for a whole animal, that person and the neighbor nearest his house are to select one based on the combined number of people; you should apportion the animal according to what each person will eat. ⁵ You must have an unblemished animal, a year-old male; you may take it from either the sheep or the goats. ⁶ You are to keep it until the fourteenth day of this month; then the whole assembly of the community of Israel will slaughter the animals at twilight. ⁷ They must take some of the blood and put it on the two doorposts and the lintel of the houses where they eat them. ⁸ They are to eat the meat that night; they should eat it, roasted over the fire along with unleavened bread and bitter herbs. ⁹ Do not eat any of it raw or cooked in boiling water, but only roasted over fire—its head as well as its legs and inner organs. ¹⁰ Do not let any of it remain until morning; you must burn up any part of it that does remain before morning. ¹¹ Here is how you must eat it: you must be dressed for travel, your sandals on your feet, and your staff in your hand. You are to eat it in a hurry; it is the Lord’s Passover.

¹² “I will pass through the land of Egypt on that night and strike every firstborn male in the land of Egypt, both man and beast. I am Yahweh; I will execute judgments against all the gods of Egypt. ¹³ The blood on the houses where you are staying will be a distinguishing mark for you; when I see the blood, I will pass over you. No plague will be among you to destroy you when I strike the land of Egypt.

¹⁴ “This day is to be a memorial for you, and you must celebrate it as a festival to the Lord. You are to celebrate it throughout your generations as a permanent statute. ¹⁵ You must eat unleavened bread for seven days. On the first day you must remove yeast from your houses. Whoever eats what is leavened from the first day through the seventh day must be cut off from Israel. ¹⁶ You are to hold a sacred assembly on the first day and another sacred assembly on the seventh day. No work may be done on those days except for preparing what people need to eat—you may do only that.

¹⁷ “You are to observe the Festival of Unleavened Bread because on this very day I brought your divisions out of the land of Egypt. You must observe this day throughout your generations as a permanent statute. ¹⁸ You are to eat unleavened bread in the first month,from the evening of the fourteenth day of the month until the evening of the twenty-first day.¹⁹ Yeast must not be found in your houses for seven days. If anyone eats something leavened, that person, whether a foreign resident or native of the land, must be cut off from the community of Israel. ²⁰ Do not eat anything leavened; eat unleavened bread in all your homes.”

²¹ Then Moses summoned all the elders of Israel and said to them, “Go, select an animal from the flock according to your families, and slaughter the Passover animal. ²² Take a cluster of hyssop, dip it in the blood that is in the basin, and brush the lintel and the two doorposts with some of the blood in the basin. None of you may go out the door of his house until morning. ²³ When the Lord passes through to strike Egypt and sees the blood on the lintel and the two doorposts, He will pass over the door and not let the destroyer enter your houses to strike you.

²⁴ “Keep this command permanently as a statute for you and your descendants. ²⁵ When you enter the land that the Lord will give you as He promised, you are to observe this ritual.²⁶ When your children ask you, ‘What does this ritual mean to you?’ ²⁷ you are to reply, ‘It is the Passover sacrifice to the Lord, for He passed over the houses of the Israelites in Egypt when He struck the Egyptians and spared our homes.’” So the people bowed down and worshiped. ²⁸ Then the Israelites went and did this; they did just as the Lord had commanded Moses and Aaron.

²⁹ Now at midnight the Lord struck every firstborn male in the land of Egypt, from the firstborn of Pharaoh who sat on his throne to the firstborn of the prisoner who was in the dungeon, and every firstborn of the livestock. ³⁰ During the night Pharaoh got up, he along with all his officials and all the Egyptians, and there was a loud wailing throughout Egypt because there wasn’t a house without someone dead. ³¹ He summoned Moses and Aaron during the night and said, “Get up, leave my people, both you and the Israelites, and go, worship Yahweh as you have asked. ³² Take even your flocks and your herds as you asked and leave, and also bless me.”

³³ Now the Egyptians pressured the people in order to send them quickly out of the country, for they said, “We’re all going to die!” ³⁴ So the people took their dough before it was leavened, with their kneading bowls wrapped up in their clothes on their shoulders.

³⁵ The Israelites acted on Moses’ word and asked the Egyptians for silver and gold jewelry and for clothing. ³⁶ And the Lord gave the people such favor in the Egyptians’ sight that they gave them what they requested. In this way they plundered the Egyptians.

³⁷ The Israelites traveled from Rameses to Succoth, about 600,000 soldiers on foot, besides their families. ³⁸ An ethnically diverse crowd also went up with them, along with a huge number of livestock, both flocks and herds. ³⁹ The people baked the dough they had brought out of Egypt into unleavened loaves, since it had no yeast; for when they had been driven out of Egypt they could not delay and had not prepared any provisions for themselves.

⁴⁰ The time that the Israelites lived in Egypt was 430 years. ⁴¹ At the end of 430 years, on that same day, all the Lord’s divisions went out from the land of Egypt. ⁴² It was a night of vigil in honor of the Lord, because He would bring them out of the land of Egypt. This same night is in honor of the Lord, a night vigil for all the Israelites throughout their generations.

⁴³ The Lord said to Moses and Aaron, “This is the statute of the Passover: no foreigner may eat it. ⁴⁴ But any slave a man has purchased may eat it, after you have circumcised him. ⁴⁵ A temporary resident or hired hand may not eat the Passover. ⁴⁶ It is to be eaten in one house. You may not take any of the meat outside the house, and you may not break any of its bones. ⁴⁷ The whole community of Israel must celebrate it. ⁴⁸ If a foreigner resides with you and wants to celebrate the Lord’s Passover, every male in his household must be circumcised, and then he may participate; he will become like a native of the land. But no uncircumcised person may eat it. ⁴⁹ The same law will apply to both the native and the foreigner who resides among you.”

⁵⁰ Then all the Israelites did this; they did just as the Lord had commanded Moses and Aaron.⁵¹ On that same day the Lord brought the Israelites out of the land of Egypt according to their divisions.

Think of our American feast or festivals that we consume to celebrate Independance Day or even Thanksgiving and Christmas.  Think about how that food reminds us of memories of past celebrations.  Holiday traditions remind us of similar memories as we celebrate the joy of the seasons.  

Discussion Topic:  How do you think the Israelistes responded to the traditions of eating a passover meal fully dressed with staff in hand?  Do you think the bitters and unleaven bread helped put them in a state of rememberance and reflection? Additionally, can you imagine the closeness of living with the family lamb for the 4 days leading up to the mass sacrifice on the night of the passover, what would your own feelings be if you applied that to our modern day thanksgiving feast and say a family turkey?

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Prayer: Father in heaven, we thank you for your sacrifcial lamb that you have given us.  The Lamb of Jesus Christ, whose blood causes the angel of death to passover our house even to this day.  Lord as we approach this time of Thanksgiving, let us prepare our hearts for a time of thankfulness to you, for what you have done for us.  Let us seek the true meaning of this festival, let us seek you in all that we do.  In Jesus, the Lamb of God's name, Amen!  

(Acknowledgments: Scripture Text - BibleGateway.com, Lamb - Artist Unknown from blog of Stephen Sizer http://www.stephensizer.com/2011/09/christ-in-all-the-scriptures-exodus-and-the-passover-lamb/, Passover Door - Artist Unknown from website http://familydads.com/blog/family-passover-feast/ , Turkey - Artist Unknown, from website http://www.businesspundit.com/the-secrets-behind-mass-turkey-production/ )