'Refugees' Tagged Posts
Daily Devotions
For I desire steadfast love and not sacrifice, the knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings.” vs. 6 Hosea 6:4-6 Somehow the people of Israel and Judah had managed to get the Lord’s message all screwed up during their time of prosperity. Their forefathers had developed a sacrificial system that provided times for pilgrimages and offerings. It was a way of giving thanks and praise to the Lord while also atoning for sin. But through the years it had become…
Daily Devotions
Father of orphans and protector of widows is God in his holy habitation. God gives the desolate a home to live in; he leads out the prisoners to prosperity, but the rebellious live in a parched land.” vss. 5-6 Psalm 68:1-10 When they were at their best, Israel championed the cause of widows and orphans in their midst. And they didn’t forget that their ancestors had come as immigrants through the wilderness into a land filled with milk and honey.…
Daily Devotions
He shall judge between the nations, and shall arbitrate for many peoples; they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks…” vs. 4a Isaiah 2:1-5 In reading the Hebrew scriptures, it’s easy to get the idea that God was an advocate of war and encouraged the people of Israel to engage in ferocious combat in defense of their land and to subjugate their enemies. More than that, it’s often implied that the Lord assisted in those…
Daily Devotions
Give justice to the weak and the orphan; maintain the right of the lowly and the destitute. Rescue the weak and the needy; deliver them from the hand of the wicked.” vss. 3-4 Psalm 82 This psalmist imagines God sitting in the divine council and holding judgment. And from that throne God calls out, “Give justice to the weak…maintain the right of the lowly…rescue the needy.” The psalmist has no doubt about God’s priorities–indeed we hear this refrain throughout scripture,…
Daily Devotions
Though an army encamp against me, my heart shall not fear; though war rise up against me, yet I will be confident.” Psalm 27:1-8 The psalmist was no stranger to war and its devastating consequences. The city of Jerusalem was besieged and destroyed regularly and its residents were accustomed to seeing foreign armies camped on the surrounding hills and refugees flooding into the city. In recent weeks we’ve seen this same ugly scene unfold in our time as the people…
Daily Devotions
Thus says the Lord: A voice is heard in Ramah, lamentation and bitter weeping. Rachel is weeping for her children; she refuses to be comforted for her children, because they are no more.” vs. 15 Jeremiah 31:14-16 Rachel was one of the revered matriarchs of Israel, the beloved wife of Jacob, and the mother of Benjamin and Joseph. According to tradition the defeated remnants of Israel were gathered in a vast company in Ramah, where she had been buried, before…
Daily Devotions
Ezekiel 34:20-34 “Because you pushed with flank and shoulder, and butted at all the weak animals with your horns until you scattered them far and wide, I will save my flock, and they shall no longer be ravaged…” vss. 21-22a The scattering of people does not happen by chance. Ezekiel used the sheep metaphor to describe exactly what takes place. The fat and the strong sheep bully the weaker members of the flock and chase them away from their sources…
Daily Devotions
Ezekiel 34:11-16 “I myself will be the shepherd of my sheep…I will seek the lost, and I will bring back the strayed, and I will bind up the injured, and I will strengthen the weak, but the fat and the strong I will destroy. I will feed them with justice.” vss. 15a-16 Ezekiel liked the metaphor of shepherd to describe the relationship of God to the people of Judah. Like lost sheep they had been scattered and left to…
Daily Devotions: September 30, 2019
September 30, 2020 For full passage click: Habakkuk 1:1-4 … “Why do you make me see wrong-doing and look at trouble? Destruction and violence are before me; strife and contention arise.” vs. 3 Living about the time of Jeremiah, Habakkuk was overwhelmed by the injustice and violence of Judah before the Babylonian invasion, and he couldn’t understand why God didn’t do anything about it. Some of us will resonate with his observations in our confused and troubled times. Even though…
Daily Devotions: July 14, 2019
July 14, 2019 Luke 10:29-37 … “But a Samaritan while traveling came near him; and when he saw him, he was moved with pity.” vs. 33 There are a lot of reasons for not getting involved when we encounter people in need, and none of them are acceptable when we claim to be followers of Jesus. His parable about the Samaritan who went the second mile in tending for the victim of violence, needs virtually no explanation. It’s obvious who…
Daily Devotions: July 20 , 2018
July 20, 2018 Ephesians 2:15-22…“So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are citizens with the saints and also members of the household of God, built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the cornerstone.” vss. 19-20 It’s so easy to get caught up in the strident nationalism of our day and begin to believe that illegals threaten every aspect of our future. According to current rhetoric, all our problems will…