Thursday, 3/19/2015

“Extraordinary afflictions are not always the punishment of extraordinary sins, but sometimes the trial of extraordinary graces.” ~ Matthew Henry

DEUTERONOMY 34

The torch is passed...

 4Then the Lord said to him, “This is the land I promised on oath to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob when I said, ‘I will give it to your descendants.’ I have let you see it with your eyes, but you will not cross over into it.”...5And Moses the servant of the Lord died there in Moab, as the Lord had said... 9Now Joshua son of Nun was filled with the spirit^b of wisdom because Moses had laid his hands on him. So the Israelites listened to him and did what the Lord had commanded Moses.

10Since then, no prophet has risen in Israel like Moses, whom the Lord knew face to face, 11who did all those signs and wonders the Lord sent him to do in Egypt—to Pharaoh and to all his officials and to his whole land. 12For no one has ever shown the mighty power or performed the awesome deeds that Moses did in the sight of all Israel. 

LUKE 1:24-56

God's plan begins to unfold...

29Mary was greatly troubled at his words and wondered what kind of greeting this might be. 30But the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary; you have found favor with God. 31You will conceive and give birth to a son, and you are to call him Jesus. 32He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, 33and he will reign over Jacob’s descendants forever; his kingdom will never end.”

34“How will this be,” Mary asked the angel, “since I am a virgin?”

35The angel answered, “The Holy Spirit will come on you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the holy one to be born will be called^b the Son of God. 36Even Elizabeth your relative is going to have a child in her old age, and she who was said to be unable to conceive is in her sixth month. 37For no word from God will ever fail.”

38“I am the Lord’s servant,” Mary answered. “May your word to me be fulfilled.” Then the angel left her.

JOURNAL

God is now showing up in the strangest of ways...God never seems to do things the easy way.  The struggle and difficulty that comes upon Mary to conceive a child out of wedlock by immaculate conception is a tough road to hoe...especially since punishment based on old testament law would have been her being stoned.  Why would God do something in such a way as to risk her life and reputation?

The answer is that God seems to use those with questionable backgrounds throughout the entire Bible.  Rehab the Canaanite prostitute is actually in the Davidic line.  Then you have all the mighty men of David who were all outcasts with tainted backgrounds...not to mention the disciples...who were all less than stellar.  Then finally to have Saul...a staunch murderer of Christians be the one who spreads the Gospel is really almost comical.  

However...God is in the business of redemption.  This is my hope and the hope of every man and woman who walk the earth.  God does not save the righteous...God saves the sick.

8For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— 9not by works, so that no one can boast.  (Ephesians 2:8-9)