Daily Devotion for January 25, 2018
(This painting was a $2,000 question on Jeopardy last week! The answer was: “The person shown here with Eli.”)
Prayers
Scripture
Lord’s Prayer
Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come; Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.
For Thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever and ever.
Refrain:
Moses take your shoes off
You're on holy ground.
(I heard Him say . . .)
Moses take your shoes off
You're on holy ground.
Fire keeps on burning
In my soul right now.
Moses take your shoes off
You're on holy ground.
God's people were in bondage,
Had no one to bring them out;
So God called old Moses
To turn their steps about.
He called him upon the mountain,
When he turned he looked around;
He said, “Moses take your shoes off
You're on holy ground.”
In this day in which we live in
We're just waiting for our change;
So until it comes to get us
We shall of His love proclaim.
To a dying world we’ll tell it,
To be ready when the trumpet sounds.
And it'll be all right when our shoes come off
Because we’re on holy ground.
Music and Lyrics by Conrad Cook
Prayer to Dedicate Oneself to Christ This Day
Almighty God, as I cross the threshold of this day, I commit myself Your care. Mold me in your image. In everything I say and do, let my mind be on the eternal goodness of heaven rather than the vanities of earth, meaningless pride, or the anger and envy that tear apart my precious soul.
I dedicate myself to your holiness, Oh sweet and innocent Christ, and pray that you may be with me, to check my tongue before it can speak evil and to stop my hand when it seeks to sin. I come to you as a child. I will look to you for guidance and wisdom. Let me know the joyful feeling of having done something that pleased you; let me never feel the pain of knowing I have disappointed you. And let me live without fear, without confusion, always steady in the certainty of your forgiveness and ultimate victory, I pray,
Serenity Prayer
God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change; the courage to change the things I can; and the wisdom to know the difference.
Living one day at a time; Enjoying one moment at a time; Accepting hardships as the pathway to peace;
Taking, as He did, this sinful world as it is, not as I would have it; Trusting that He will make all things right if I surrender to His Will;
That I may be reasonably happy in this life and supremely happy with Him Forever in the next.
Meditation
[Accepting hardships as the pathway to peace.]
Benediction
Now unto the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only wise God, be honor and glory for ever and ever.
(Additional prayers may be found at Prayers for All Occasions.)
God be with you 'til we meet again.
Loneliness
When I say, “I feel so empty,” God says, “I created you with a longing in your heart that only I can fill.”
~ paraphrase of Psalm 90:14.
1 Samuel 4:11-22 (NIV)
The Death of Eli
That same day a Benjamite ran from the battle line and went to Shiloh, his clothes torn and dust on his head. When he arrived, there was Eli sitting on his chair by the side of the road, watching, because his heart feared for the ark of God. When the man entered the town and told what had happened, the whole town sent up a cry.
Eli heard the outcry and asked, “What is the meaning of this uproar?” The man hurried over to Eli, who was ninety-eight years old and whose eyes were set so that he could not see. He told Eli, “I have just come from the battle line; I fled from it this very day.” Eli asked, “What happened, my son?”
The man who brought the news replied, “Israel fled before the Philistines, and the army has suffered heavy losses. Also your two sons, Hophni and Phinehas, are dead, and the ark of God has been captured.”
When he mentioned the ark of God, Eli fell backward off his chair by the side of the gate. His neck was broken and he died, for he was an old man and heavy. He had led Israel forty years.
is daughter-in-law, the wife of Phinehas, was pregnant and near the time of delivery. When she heard the news that the ark of God had been captured and that her father-in-law and her husband were dead, she went into labor and gave birth, but was overcome by her labor pains. As she was dying, the women attending her said, “Don’t despair; you have given birth to a son.” But she did not respond or pay any attention.
She named the boy Ichabod, saying, “The glory has departed from Israel” — because of the capture of the ark of God and the deaths of her father-in-law and her husband. She said, “The glory has departed from Israel, for the ark of God has been captured.”
Notes on the Scripture
The reaction of the people of Shiloh gives us an idea of how terrible the defeat of the Israelite army was. Eli is destroyed and the legacy of his life lies in tatters. After 40 years of slack disobedience to God’s word, Israel is on the verge of destruction as a nation and his sons are dead. He dies ingloriously, a fat blind old man, from falling off his chair. Similarly, his daughter-in-law’s death is, by implication, due to her distress. The symbol of the day is the poor child, who is given the unpromising name “Ichabod”.
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