BIBLE PASSAGES
Leviticus 26:3-27:34
Jeremiah 16:19-17:14
Ephesians 2:11-19
The heart of God is seen in such a beautiful way this week in our readings. Despite the Jews disobedience, God will not cancel His covenant with them. God shares with us that He will remember His ancient covenant in the sight of all nations. The question remains, why would God do this after all they put Him through? God’s heart is that the Jews might recognize Him as their God in spirit and in truth relationally.
We read in Jeremiah this week about those who trust in the Lord. Jeremiah 17:7-8 makes it clear. “But blessed are those who trust in the Lord and have made the Lord their hope and confidence. They are like trees planted along a riverbank, with roots that reach deep into the water. Such trees are not bothered by the heat or worried by long months of drought. Their leaves stay green, and they never stop producing fruit.”
I find this passage very personal to my life. This promise by God was given to all of us who TRUST in the Lord. Once we put our trust in Him, we need to HOPE and be confident. That means against all odds we stay rock solid.
In Ephesians we find a passage that discusses the inclusion of the Gentiles and Jews together in oneness of Faith. I find it very refreshing to be included into God’s master plan. No longer do I have to feel like an outsider looking in. I can embrace that I am no longer an orphan or widow, but a citizen and member of God’s family.
"11 Therefore, remember your former state: you Gentiles by birth — called the Uncircumcised by those who, merely because of an operation on their flesh, are called the Circumcised — 12 at that time had no Messiah. You were estranged from the national life of Isra’el. You were foreigners to the covenants embodying God’s promise. You were in this world without hope and without God.
13 But now, you who were once far off have been brought near through the shedding of the Messiah’s blood. 14 For he himself is our shalom — he has made us both one and has broken down the m’chitzah which divided us 15 by destroying in his own body the enmity occasioned by the Torah, with its commands set forth in the form of ordinances. He did this in order to create in union with himself from the two groups a single new humanity and thus make shalom, 16 and in order to reconcile to God both in a single body by being executed on a stake as a criminal and thus in himself killing that enmity.
17 Also, when he came, he announced as Good News shalom to you far off and shalom to those nearby, 8 news that through him we both have access in one Spirit to the Father.
19 So then, you are no longer foreigners and strangers. On the contrary, you are fellow-citizens with God’s people and members of God’s family." - Ephesians 2:11-19, CJB
Questions for Reflection:
▪ Whom do I put my trust in?
▪ How do I define hope and confidence?
▪ Do I believe I am a citizen along with all of God’s holy people?
▪ Do I believe I am a member of God’s family?
▪ Do I understand how much God loves people to worship Him relationally?
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