The Daily Lectionary for TUESDAY, August 11, 2020

The Daily Lectionary

TUESDAY, August 11, 2020

Psalm 28; Genesis 39:1-23; Romans 9:14-29

(Revised Common Lectionary Year A)

(Semicontinuous Reading Plan)

Psalm 28

God hears my pleadings

1  To you, Lord, I call;
     you are my Rock,
     do not turn a deaf ear to me.
   For if you remain silent,
     I will be like those who go down to the pit.
2  Hear my cry for mercy
     as I call to you for help,
   as I lift up my hands
     toward your Most Holy Place.

3  Do not drag me away with the wicked,
     with those who do evil,
   who speak cordially with their neighbors
     but harbor malice in their hearts.
4  Repay them for their deeds
     and for their evil work;
   repay them for what their hands have done
     and bring back on them what they deserve.

5  Because they have no regard for the deeds of the Lord
     and what his hands have done,
   he will tear them down
     and never build them up again.

6  Praise be to the Lord,
     for he has heard my cry for mercy.
7  The Lord is my strength and my shield;
     my heart trusts in him, and he helps me.
   My heart leaps for joy,
     and with my song I praise him.

8  The Lord is the strength of his people,
     a fortress of salvation for his anointed one.
9  Save your people and bless your inheritance;
     be their shepherd and carry them forever.

Genesis 39:1-23

Joseph in Potiphar’s employ

39:1 Now Joseph had been taken down to Egypt. Potiphar, an Egyptian who was one of Pharaoh’s officials, the captain of the guard, bought him from the Ishmaelites who had taken him there.

2 The Lord was with Joseph so that he prospered, and he lived in the house of his Egyptian master. 3 When his master saw that the Lord was with him and that the Lord gave him success in everything he did, 4 Joseph found favor in his eyes and became his attendant. Potiphar put him in charge of his household, and he entrusted to his care everything he owned. 5 From the time he put him in charge of his household and of all that he owned, the Lord blessed the household of the Egyptian because of Joseph. The blessing of the Lord was on everything Potiphar had, both in the house and in the field. 6 So Potiphar left everything he had in Joseph’s care; with Joseph in charge, he did not concern himself with anything except the food he ate.

Now Joseph was well-built and handsome, 7 and after a while his master’s wife took notice of Joseph and said, “Come to bed with me!”

8 But he refused. “With me in charge,” he told her, “my master does not concern himself with anything in the house; everything he owns he has entrusted to my care. 9 No one is greater in this house than I am. My master has withheld nothing from me except you, because you are his wife. How then could I do such a wicked thing and sin against God?” 10 And though she spoke to Joseph day after day, he refused to go to bed with her or even be with her.

11 One day he went into the house to attend to his duties, and none of the household servants was inside. 12 She caught him by his cloak and said, “Come to bed with me!” But he left his cloak in her hand and ran out of the house.

13 When she saw that he had left his cloak in her hand and had run out of the house, 14 she called her household servants. “Look,” she said to them, “this Hebrew has been brought to us to make sport of us! He came in here to sleep with me, but I screamed. 15 When he heard me scream for help, he left his cloak beside me and ran out of the house.”

16 She kept his cloak beside her until his master came home. 17 Then she told him this story: “That Hebrew slave you brought us came to me to make sport of me. 18 But as soon as I screamed for help, he left his cloak beside me and ran out of the house.”

19 When his master heard the story his wife told him, saying, “This is how your slave treated me,” he burned with anger. 20 Joseph’s master took him and put him in prison, the place where the king’s prisoners were confined.

But while Joseph was there in the prison, 21 the Lord was with him; he showed him kindness and granted him favor in the eyes of the prison warden. 22 So the warden put Joseph in charge of all those held in the prison, and he was made responsible for all that was done there. 23 The warden paid no attention to anything under Joseph’s care, because the Lord was with Joseph and gave him success in whatever he did.

Romans 9:14-29

God’s wrath God’s mercy

9:14 What then shall we say? Is God unjust? Not at all! 15 For he says to Moses,

   “I will have mercy on whom I have mercy,
     and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.”

16 It does not, therefore, depend on human desire or effort, but on God’s mercy. 17 For Scripture says to Pharaoh: “I raised you up for this very purpose, that I might display my power in you and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth.” 18 Therefore God has mercy on whom he wants to have mercy, and he hardens whom he wants to harden.

19 One of you will say to me: “Then why does God still blame us? For who is able to resist his will?” 20 But who are you, a human being, to talk back to God? “Shall what is formed say to the one who formed it, ‘Why did you make me like this?’” 21 Does not the potter have the right to make out of the same lump of clay some pottery for special purposes and some for common use?

22 What if God, although choosing to show his wrath and make his power known, bore with great patience the objects of his wrath—prepared for destruction? 23 What if he did this to make the riches of his glory known to the objects of his mercy, whom he prepared in advance for glory— 24 even us, whom he also called, not only from the Jews but also from the Gentiles? 25 As he says in Hosea:

   “I will call them ‘my people’ who are not my people;
     and I will call her ‘my loved one’ who is not my loved one,”

26 and,

   “In the very place where it was said to them,
     ‘You are not my people,’
     there they will be called ‘children of the living God.’”

27 Isaiah cries out concerning Israel:

   “Though the number of the Israelites be like the sand by the sea,
     only the remnant will be saved.
28 For the Lord will carry out
     his sentence on earth with speed and finality.”

29 It is just as Isaiah said previously:

   “Unless the Lord Almighty
     had left us descendants,
   we would have become like Sodom,
     we would have been like Gomorrah.”

Optional parts of the readings are set off in [square brackets.]

The Bible texts of the Old Testament, Epistle, and Gospel lessons are from The Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

The Daily Lectionary is a three-year cyclical lectionary. We are currently in Year A. Beginning with the first Sunday of Advent in 2020, we will be in Year B. The year which ended at Advent 2019 was Year C. These readings complement the Sunday and festival readings: Thursday through Saturday readings help prepare the reader for the Sunday ahead; Monday through Wednesday readings help the reader reflect and digest what they heard in worship. Revised Common Lectionary Daily Readings, copyright © 2005 Consultation on Common Texts. www.commontexts.org
The Daily Lectionary for TUESDAY, August 11, 2020
Psalm 28; Genesis 39:1-23; Romans 9:14-29

The Daily Prayer for TUESDAY, August 11, 2020

The Daily Prayer

TUESDAY, August 11, 2020

Clare of Assisi (1194 — 1255)

Clare Offreduccio was born into Italian nobility in 1194. She ran away from home at the age of eighteen after hearing St. Francis preach on the streets of Assisi. She chose to wed Christ instead of the man her parents wanted her to marry. With Francis’ help, she founded the Franciscan monastic community of the Order of Poor Ladies (The Poor Clares) at San Damiano. Clare became abbess of the order in 1216 and led the sisters in their commitment to poverty and manual labor. Her own mother and sisters later joined the order. As abbess, she fought hard to resist any papal orders that the Poor Clares establish a rule of life. She is often depicted holding a monstrance, symbolizing her use of the blessed sacrament to defend her convent from invaders.

When the pope offered to absolve Clare from her rigorous vow of poverty, she answered, “Absolve me from my sins, Holy Father, but not from my wish to follow Christ.”

Lord, help us to be faithful, even when we face our own fears. Remind us that we are your children, even when we feel inadequate. We know that you have overcome giants and crosses and all things evil. Help our unbelief. Amen.

Verse of the Day for TUESDAY, August 11, 2020

Psalm 119:14

I rejoice in following your statutes as one rejoices in great riches.

Read all of Psalm 119

Listen to Psalm 119

Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

Daily Devotions - August 11, 2020 - "No Longer an Outsider"

Daily Devotions

"No Longer an Outsider"

August 11, 2020

Thus says the LORD…"Also the sons of the stranger, that join themselves to the Lord, to serve him, and to love the name of the Lord, to be his servants, every one that keepeth the sabbath from polluting it, and taketh hold of my covenant; Even them will I bring to my holy mountain, and make them joyful in my house of prayer: their burnt offerings and their sacrifices shall be accepted upon mine altar; for mine house shall be called an house of prayer for all people. The Lord God, which gathereth the outcasts of Israel saith, Yet will I gather others to him, beside those that are gathered unto him.

— Isaiah 56:1a, 6-8

It's not easy being a second-class citizen. Everything around you reminds you that you don't belong. There are places you can't go, things you can't do. Worst of all, people treat you poorly. A lot of you know this from your own life experience.

The God-fearers of the Bible are an example of second-class citizens. A "God-fearer" was a person who worshipped the God of Israel, but didn't follow the full Jewish law. They were considered half-converts, not full, and so there were limits on what they could do and where they could go. In Jesus' day, for instance, they could go to the temple in Jerusalem, but only to the extreme outermost Court of the Gentiles. That left them far away from the altar itself, and from a lot of areas where teaching, praying, music, and offering went on. Imagine how that must have felt!

But in our reading for today, God makes it clear that this situation will not last forever. He has no intention of having second-class citizens in his kingdom: "These I will bring to My holy mountain, and make them joyful in My house of prayer…for My house shall be called a house of prayer for all peoples."

Notice what God says—"I will make them joyful in My house of prayer." In other words, they aren't just going to join the rest of the believers in the inner courts; they are going to go all the way in, to the very temple itself! God is making them welcome in His own presence—and along with them, everybody of any background who loves and trusts and serves Him as their God.

This is what Jesus has done for us—all of us, everyone who loves and trusts Him as our Savior. As Paul says, "But now in Christ Jesus ye who sometimes were far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ. For he is our peace, who hath made both one, and hath broken down the middle wall of partition between us…(He did this to) reconcile both unto God in one body by the cross, having slain the enmity thereby: And came and preached peace to you which were afar off, and to them that were nigh. For through him we both have access by one Spirit unto the Father" (Ephesians 2:13-14, 16b-18).

Now you can draw near to God in comfort and peace, knowing that you are fully welcome regardless of your background or past. Jesus has called you near. He has given His own life to make you a citizen of God's kingdom, a dearly loved child of the Father. And He has risen from the dead that you may live with Him forever and with all the rest of God's people, in love and peace at last.

THE PRAYER: Dear Lord, please bring that true, complete peace and fellowship to us soon. Amen.

Kari Vo

Reflection Questions:

1. When have you felt like a second-class citizen?

2. When have you seen others treated that way?

3. How can God work through you to build real relationships of love and respect with people you would normally be separated from?

Use these devotions in your newsletter and bulletin! Used by permission; all rights reserved.
When have you felt like a second-class citizen?

Standing Strong Through the Storm - Tuesday, August 11, 2020

SOLUTION TO PERSECUTION

“I will go to the king, even though it is against the law. And if I perish, I perish.”

— Esther 4:16b

Today we have the second in the series from a house church pastor’s sermon in China:

How is suffering overcome? Or if you like, what is the solution to persecution? A church father answered this way; “Pray as if everything depends on God. Work as if God were going to do his work through you.” So when resisting persecution, we do everything humanly possible to lessen it. But then we also beseech God to put a stop to it. In the two comes deliverance.

You can see both sides involved here. On the human level, we see two characteristics coming to the fore especially—courage and cunning. Esther is the one who displays courage, by taking her life in her hands to enter the king’s presence without an appointment. She says, “If I perish, I perish.” What a brave woman! She’s also the one who displays cunning, hatching a plan to entrap Haman. She throws a banquet, reveals her racial identity, and then exposes Haman as the man who wants to kill her.

Would it have worked? Who knows? Perhaps not. Haman did have great clout with the king as a trusted advisor, and Esther was merely a queen, and queens—as made clear here—are easily replaceable.

But it did work out, thanks to God. And this is the other side. We pray and pray that God will intervene. There is so much that is beyond our control. Our planning, our cunning, our bravery, is never enough. We need God’s help. So the Jews have a time of weeping and repentance (Esther 4:1-3), and then God intervenes in an astonishing way.

An old pastor used to say to me, “I find that coincidences stop happening when I stop praying.” The resolution of the book of Esther hinges on a massive coincidence, namely, that at the precise moment Haman expects to kill Mordecai, the king decides to honor Mordecai. Both men reach each situation independently. Take the king, for instance.

• The king just happens to have a sleepless night before Haman will pitch his plan.

• He just happens to read the annals to get to sleep, and just happens to find the part that tells of a good deed of Mordecai.

He just happens to decide to honor Mordecai the following morning at the very moment Haman comes into the room.

• He just happens to select the first person who walks into his room at that time to carry out his plan.

• That person is Haman, who just happens to be ready to ask for the head of Mordecai.

And through a misunderstanding, the king decides to put Haman to death, as he thinks Haman is molesting Esther when in fact he’s only pleading. The point is, all this is outside human control. It’s God’s doing. But He worked within Esther’s plan. And so the plan to persecute the Jews is foiled.

RESPONSE: Today I acknowledge that there are no coincidences, just God-incidences!

PRAYER: Help me, Lord, to be faithful and see evidences of Your control over my circumstances.

Standing Strong Through The Storm (SSTS), a daily devotional message by SSTS author Paul Estabrooks. © 2011 Open Doors International. Used by permission.

Un dia a la Vez - Martes 11 de agosto de 2020

La limpieza del templo de Dios

¿Quién puede subir al monte del Señor? ¿Quién puede estar en su lugar santo? Solo el de manos limpias y corazón puro.

— Salmo 24:3-4

El concepto de la limpieza no es necesariamente verte con una escoba, una mopa o cualquier otro utensilio de aseo. La limpieza también tiene que ver con nuestro cuerpo cuando Jesús viene a nuestro corazón al aceptarlo como el Salvador de nuestras vidas.

El Manual de Instrucciones nos enseña que nosotros somos el templo del Espíritu Santo. La pregunta es la siguiente: ¿Cómo está ese templo? ¿Está lleno de corrupción, de pecado, de mentira, de hábitos que desagradan a Dios?

La limpieza de la casa de Dios, o el templo del Espíritu, a veces no es cosa de un día. Quizá tengamos cosas tan arraigadas que nos resulten difíciles de sacar. Sin embargo, con la ayuda de Dios, claro que es posible.

Cuando estamos agradecidos por lo que Él nos ha dado, como la salvación y la vida eterna, tenemos que poner de nuestra parte.

Hoy examinemos y saquemos lo que de seguro oscurece el templo del Espíritu y la posterior llegada de Dios a nuestra casa.

Un Día a la Vez Copyright © by Claudia Pinzón
El concepto de la limpieza no es necesariamente verte con una escoba, una mopa o cualquier otro utensilio de aseo.

Devocional CPTLN del 11 de agosto de 2020 - Ya no más extraño

ALIMENTO DIARIO

Ya no más extraño

11 de Agosto de 2020

[El Señor ha dicho:] A los hijos de los extranjeros que me sigan y me sirvan, y que amen mi nombre y sean mis siervos; y a todos los que observen el día de reposo y no lo profanen, y se aferren a mi pacto, yo los llevaré a mi santo monte, para que se alegren en mi casa de oración. Sus holocaustos y sus sacrificios serán bien recibidos sobre mi altar, porque mi casa será llamada casa de oración para todos los pueblos. Todavía habré de reunir con ustedes a otros que estoy por reunir.

— Isaías 56:6-8

No es fácil ser un ciudadano de segunda clase: todo a tu alrededor te recuerda que no perteneces. Hay lugares a los que no puedes ir, cosas que no puedes hacer. Lo peor de todo: la gente te trata mal. Muchos de ustedes saben esto por su propia experiencia de vida.

En la Biblia, quienes temían a Dios son un ejemplo de ciudadanos de segunda clase. Eran las personas que adoraban al Dios de Israel, pero no seguían la ley judía completamente. Eran considerados "medio" convertidos, por lo que había límites en lo que podían hacer y hacia dónde podían ir. En tiempos de Jesús, por ejemplo, podían ir al templo en Jerusalén, pero solo hasta el patio exterior de los gentiles, que estaba lejos del altar y de muchas áreas donde la enseñanza, la oración, la música y la ofrenda se llevaban a cabo. ¡Imagina cómo se deben haber sentido!

Pero en nuestra lectura de hoy, Dios deja en claro que esta situación no durará para siempre. Él no tiene intención de tener ciudadanos de segunda clase en su reino: "... los llevaré a mi santo monte, para que se alegren en mi casa de oración ... porque mi casa será llamada casa de oración para todos los pueblos".

Notemos lo que Dios dice: "... para que se alegren en mi casa de oración". En otras palabras, no solo se unirán al resto de los creyentes en los atrios internos, sino que ¡van a entrar hasta el mismo templo! Dios les está dando la bienvenida en su propia presencia y, junto con ellos, a todos aquellos que lo aman, confían y le sirven como su Dios, más allá de cuál sea su origen.

Esto es lo que Jesús ha hecho por nosotros, todos los que lo amamos y confiamos en Él como nuestro Salvador. Como dice Pablo: "Pero ahora, en Cristo Jesús, ustedes, que en otro tiempo estaban lejos, han sido acercados por la sangre de Cristo. Porque él es nuestra paz. De dos pueblos hizo uno solo, al derribar la pared intermedia de separación... y para reconciliar con Dios a los dos en un solo cuerpo mediante la cruz, sobre la cual puso fin a las enemistades. Él vino y a ustedes, que estaban lejos, les anunció las buenas nuevas de paz, lo mismo que a los que estaban cerca. Por medio de él, unos y otros tenemos acceso al Padre en un mismo Espíritu" (Efesios 2:13-14, 16-18).

Ahora puedes acercarte a Dios en paz, sabiendo que eres completamente bienvenido sin importar tu pasado. Jesús te ha llamado y te ha dado su propia vida para hacerte ciudadano del reino de Dios, hijo amado del Padre. Y ha resucitado de entre los muertos para que puedas vivir con Él y con todo el resto del pueblo de Dios para siempre, en amor y paz.

ORACIÓN: Querido Señor, mantennos firmes en tu paz verdadera y completa. Amén.

Dra. Kari Vo

Para reflexionar:

* ¿Has sido tratado como ciudadano de segunda clase o has visto a otros ser tratados de esa manera?

* ¿Cómo puede Dios usarte para construir relaciones basadas en amor y respeto con personas de las que normalmente estarías separado?

© Copyright 2020 Cristo Para Todas Las Naciones. Que a través de estos devocionales, la Palabra de Dios te refresque en tu diario caminar.
¿Has sido tratado como ciudadano de segunda clase o has visto a otros ser tratados de esa manera?

Nuestro Pan Diario - Nombres puestos por Dios

Nombres puestos por Dios

La escritura de hoy: Rut 1:19-22
La Biblia en un año: Salmos 81–83; Romanos 11:19-36

… No me llaméis Noemí, sino llamadme Mara; porque en grande amargura me ha puesto el Todopoderoso.

—  Rut 1:20

Torbellino. Batichica. Chispita. Estos son algunos de los apodos que les ponen a consejeros en el campamento al que vamos con mi familia todos los años. Creados por sus compañeros, suelen derivar de incidentes divertidos, hábitos cómicos o entretenimientos favoritos.

Los apodos no se limitan a los campamentos; también los encontramos en la Biblia. Por ejemplo, Jesús llama a Jacobo y Juan «Hijos del trueno» (Marcos 3:17). Es raro encontrar que alguien se ponga a sí mismo un apodo, pero esto sucedió cuando una mujer llamada Noemí le pidió a la gente que la llamara «Mara», que significa «amarga» (Rut 1:20), porque su esposo y sus dos hijos habían muerto. Sentía que Dios le había amargado la vida (v. 21).

No obstante, ese nuevo nombre no se mantuvo porque esas pérdidas no fueron el final de la historia. En medio de su dolor, Dios la bendijo con una nuera amorosa, Rut, la cual con el tiempo se volvió a casar, tuvo un hijo y le dio a Noemí una nueva familia.

Aunque a veces nos apodemos con nombres amargos, como «fracasado» o «despreciado», por los errores que cometimos o las dificultades que experimentamos, estos no son el final de la historia, porque podemos reemplazarlos con la designación que Dios nos ha dado al formar parte de su familia: «amada» (Romanos 9:25).

De:  Administrador del sitio

Reflexiona y ora

Padre, gracias por llamarme «tu hijo».

Piensa en un apodo que te hayan puesto. ¿Qué te gusta de él o no? ¿Cómo cambia tu perspectiva al ser llamado hijo de Dios?

© 2020 Ministerios Nuestro Pan Diario
Creados por sus compañeros, suelen derivar de incidentes divertidos, hábitos cómicos o entretenimientos favoritos.