Exodus 17:8-19:15, Matthew 22:34-23:12, Psalm 27:7-14, Proverbs 6:27-35
Pray: Lord, one of the hardest things to do is sit and wait. Would You give each of us an extra measure of patience and courage to trust You and wait for You to work on our behalf? Your word constantly reminds us that You will show Yourself strong on behalf of those who wait on You. Help us with this today Lord. Amen.
Read: There is a lesser-known story in our reading today about how the Israelites defeat the Amalek. It says that whenever Moses held up his hands, Israel prevailed, and whenever he lowered his hands, Amalek prevailed. Moses’ hands got heavy because of gravity so the community got busy and lifted up Moses’ withering hands, because God demands that we trust in Him and His plans to win. It is only when we recognize fully that God and the brothers and sisters in Christ around us who can hold us up are our only source of help that you and I will get victory over our giants.
Edify: Sometimes we can make our faith such a complicated thing. In our New Testament reading this morning we see Jesus simplifying it for us. “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the greatest and first commandment. And the second is like it, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” It’s simple, right? But yet, these commands are also some of the most difficult to live into regularly. Just as the cross itself is pointing upward to God and out towards man, may God grant us the strength to love vertically and horizontally every day.
Practice: Sometimes we get so caught up in “doing” that maybe we forget what the Psalmist encourages us to do in our reading today in Psalm 27:14 “Wait for the Lord; be strong, and let your heart take courage; wait for the Lord." Just as Moses had to sit and wait for the Lord to work. Let’s be patient and let Jesus do His thing!
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