God's covenant

First of all, I really encourage each and every one of you to continue with your devotions. I have gone a long time without my devotions, but throughout this week I've tried to be keep up with my devotions and has truly heard God speaking through his word. Like Joy said in her devotions, "the Bible is old, but what God has to say is new everyday."

Today I read Genesis 9-11; Matthew 4

A lot happened in these chapters...

Summary: Genesis 9 finished up the story of Noah with God's covenant to us.

Genesis 9:13-15 "I have set my rainbow in the clouds, and it will be the sign of the covenant between me and the earth.Whenever I bring clouds over the earth and the rainbow appears in the clouds, I will remember my covenant between me and you and all living creatures of every kind. Never again will the waters become a flood to destroy all life."

Chapter 11 went on to talk about the story of the Tower of Babel and the confusion of languages. I heard a sermon on this section of Genesis and the pastor mentioned that a lot of people disregard this passage, but it should be just as important to a Christian as any other lesson taught to us in the Bible. It talks about the importance of following God's commands and when we don't, the consequenses we suffer.

Matthew 4 talks about:
1. The temptation of Jesus
2. Jesus and the beginning of his ministry-"Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near."
3. The call of Jesus' disciples: Peter/Andrew, John/James
4. Jesus heals the sick

Passage Focus:

Matthew 4:4 "'Man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.'" I have always thought that this passage means that: As the body lives by bread, so the soul lives by the word of God. Even though this is true, after reading John Gill's commentary on this passage, Gill interperts this as "in satisfying man's hunger, and in supporting and preserving his life, is not tied to bread only, but can make use of other means, and order whatever he pleases to answer these ends; as, by raining manna from heaven. (Deut.8:3) Our Lord hereby expresses his strong faith and confidence in God, that he was able to support him, and would do it, though in a wilderness, and destitute of supply; whereby he overcame this temptation of Satan."

My thoughts:

"Give us this day, our daily bread." Part of the LORD's prayer says that surely, as humans we need to eat our meals, snacks, applebees..(ha!) because of the weakness of our human flesh. However, God choses his way to satisfy our hunger physically and spiritually; all we need is to trust that he will provide. Jesus here gives a great example. He is willing to trust God and believe that God is able to support him; this is what ultimately helped him overcome the tempation from Satan.

Surely, God provides, but we need to believe he will.

Love, Dawn