Daily Devotion for September 29, 2017
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.
This piece is known simply as “The Vivaldi Gloria” due to its outstanding popularity. The only lyrics to the First Movement are Gloria in excelsis Deo - “Glory to God in the highest.”
It is performed here by an ad hoc chorus (in Madrid), “Voices for Peace,” who are slightly unpolished but sing it with enormous heart and conviction. Glory to God, indeed!
Prayer to Live with Jesus
Dearest Jesus, work another miracle, a prodigy of grace. Make my soul a beautiful, living Tabernacle where You will ever dwell. Let me never leave You alone, but remind me to return hundreds of times in the day and have a word with You.
To Cast Off the World
Give me thy grace, good Lord:
To set the world at nought;
To set my mind fast upon thee,
And not to hang upon the blast of men's mouths;
To be content to be solitary,
Not to long for the world's company;
Little and little to utterly cast off the world,
And rid my mind of all the business thereof.
Meditation
[Let me never leave you alone.]
Benediction
And finally, may the grace of Christ our Savior, and the Father's boundless love, with the Holy Spirit's favor, rest upon me, and all of us, from above. Thus may we abide in union, with each other and the Lord, and possess, in sweet communion, joys which earth cannot afford.
Think of the day ahead in terms of God with you, and visualize health, strength, guidance, purity, calm confidence, and victory as the gifts of His presence.
Key to 12 Tribes
- Zebulun - “he shall become a haven for ships”
- “Benjamin is a ravenous wolf”
- Levi (became dispersed as priests, keepers of the tabernacle)
- Simeon (fortified town) - “weapon of violence”
- “Asher's food shall be rich”
- “Naphtali is a doe that bears beautiful fawns”
- Gad (tent) - “Raiders shall raid Gad, but he shall raid at their heels”
- “Joseph is a fruitful bough”
- “Dan shall be a serpent in the way”
- Judah - the lion
- “Issachar is a strong donkey”
- Reuben - “unstable as water”
Proverbs 17:4 (NKJV)
A liar listens eagerly to a spiteful tongue.
Genesis 49:28-33 (ESV)
Jacob’s Last Words
All these are the twelve tribes of Israel. This is what their father said to them as he blessed them, blessing each with the blessing suitable to him.
Then he commanded them and said to them, “I am to be gathered to my people; bury me with my fathers in the cave that is in the field of Ephron the Hittite, in the cave that is in the field at Machpelah, to the east of Mamre, in the land of Canaan, which Abraham bought with the field from Ephron the Hittite to possess as a burying place. There they buried Abraham and Sarah his wife. There they buried Isaac and Rebekah his wife, and there I buried Leah — the field and the cave that is in it were bought from the Hittites.”
When Jacob finished commanding his sons, he drew up his feet into the bed and breathed his last and was gathered to his people.
Notes on the Scripture
his is a great moment in history, for it is the moment in which the time of the lone patriarchs end and the twelve tribes of Israel are declared. Jacob (Israel) was an individual man. God has promised that his seed would be as numerous as the grains of sand; and here, the fulfillment of the promise begins. Joseph has been declared the head of what is no longer a tribe of nomads, but a seedling nation. Although there are only about 70 of them, the Hebrews are now the nation of Israel.
Jacob will be buried in Canaan, in the tomb of Abraham. Not only does he have a natural inclination to be buried with his ancestors, in the home of his heart, as many people do; but also, he wants to establish that Canaan is still the land of the nation which bears his name — not Egypt. It is a sign he gives to his sons and his generations to come, that they are living in a strange land. No matter how long it will last (and it will last for centuries), their life in Egypt is a temporary sojourn. God has promised them the land of Canaan, and they will eventually return to it, for it is the home of their God and their destiny.
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