The Daily Bible Readings for TUESDAY, November 24, 2020

 

The Daily Readings
TUESDAY, November 24, 2020
Psalm 28; Zechariah 11:4-17; Revelation 19:1-9
The Holy Bible, King James Version (KJV)

Today’s Verse-of-the-Day:

Colossians 2:6-7

As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in him: Rooted and built up in him, and stablished in the faith, as ye have been taught, abounding therein with thanksgiving.

How did you receive Jesus as your Lord and Savior? By faith. And that is exactly how you grow into maturity—by faith. The ability to accomplish all God has planned for you is within you through the presence, power, and wisdom of the Holy Spirit. So if you wish to develop your relationship with Him and become all you were created to be, you must willingly surrender yourself to His promptings and trust Him, no matter what He commands you to do.

Today’s Readings:

Psalm 28
Shepherd your people forever

1 Unto thee will I cry, O Lord my rock; be not silent to me: lest, if thou be silent to me, I become like them that go down into the pit.

2 Hear the voice of my supplications, when I cry unto thee, when I lift up my hands toward thy holy oracle.

3 Draw me not away with the wicked, and with the workers of iniquity, which speak peace to their neighbours, but mischief is in their hearts.

4 Give them according to their deeds, and according to the wickedness of their endeavours: give them after the work of their hands; render to them their desert.

5 Because they regard not the works of the Lord, nor the operation of his hands, he shall destroy them, and not build them up.

6 Blessed be the Lord, because he hath heard the voice of my supplications.

7 The Lord is my strength and my shield; my heart trusted in him, and I am helped: therefore my heart greatly rejoiceth; and with my song will I praise him.

8 The Lord is their strength, and he is the saving strength of his anointed.

9 Save thy people, and bless thine inheritance: feed them also, and lift them up for ever.

Commentary
Verses 1-5 — David is very earnest in prayer. Observe his faith in prayer; God is my rock, on whom I build my hope. Believers should not rest till they have received some token that their prayers are heard. He prays that he may not be numbered with the wicked. Save me from being entangled in the snares they have laid for me. Save me from being infected with their sins, and from doing as they do. Lord, never leave me to use such arts of deceit and treachery for my safety, as they use for my ruin. Believers dread the way of sinners; the best are sensible of the danger they are in of being drawn aside: we should all pray earnestly to God for his grace to keep us. Those who are careful not to partake with sinners in their sins, have reason to hope that they shall not receive their plagues. He speaks of the just judgments of the Lord on the workers of iniquity, Psalm 28:4. This is not the language of passion or revenge. It is a prophecy that there will certainly come a day, when God will punish every man who persists in his evil deeds. Sinners shall be reckoned with, not only for the mischief they have done, but for the mischief they designed, and did what they could to effect. Disregard of the works of the Lord, is the cause of the sin of sinners, and becomes the cause of their ruin.

Verses 6-9 — Has God heard our supplications? Let us then bless his name. The Lord is my strength, to support me, and carry me on through all my services and sufferings. The heart that truly believes, shall in due time greatly rejoice: we are to expect joy and peace in believing. God shall have the praise of it: thus must we express our gratitude. The saints rejoice in others' comfort as well as their own: we have the less benefit from the light of the sun, nor from the light of God's countenance, for others' sharing therein. The psalmist concludes with a short, but comprehensive prayer. God's people are his inheritance, and precious in his eyes. He prays that God would save them; that he would bless them with all good, especially the plenty of his ordinances, which are food to the soul. And direct their actions and overrule their affairs for good. Also, lift them up for ever; not only those of that age, but his people in every age to come; lift them up as high as heaven. There, and there only, will saints be lifted up for ever, never more to sink, or be depressed. Save us, Lord Jesus, from our sins; bless us, thou Son of Abraham, with the blessing of righteousness; feed us, thou good Shepherd of the sheep, and lift us up for ever from the dust, O thou, who art the Resurrection and the Life.

Zechariah 11:4-17
Two kinds of shepherds

11:4 Thus saith the Lord my God; Feed the flock of the slaughter;

5 Whose possessors slay them, and hold themselves not guilty: and they that sell them say, Blessed be the Lord; for I am rich: and their own shepherds pity them not.

6 For I will no more pity the inhabitants of the land, saith the Lord: but, lo, I will deliver the men every one into his neighbour's hand, and into the hand of his king: and they shall smite the land, and out of their hand I will not deliver them.

7 And I will feed the flock of slaughter, even you, O poor of the flock. And I took unto me two staves; the one I called Beauty, and the other I called Bands; and I fed the flock.

8 Three shepherds also I cut off in one month; and my soul lothed them, and their soul also abhorred me.

9 Then said I, I will not feed you: that that dieth, let it die; and that that is to be cut off, let it be cut off; and let the rest eat every one the flesh of another.

10 And I took my staff, even Beauty, and cut it asunder, that I might break my covenant which I had made with all the people.

11 And it was broken in that day: and so the poor of the flock that waited upon me knew that it was the word of the Lord.

12 And I said unto them, If ye think good, give me my price; and if not, forbear. So they weighed for my price thirty pieces of silver.

13 And the Lord said unto me, Cast it unto the potter: a goodly price that I was prised at of them. And I took the thirty pieces of silver, and cast them to the potter in the house of the Lord.

14 Then I cut asunder mine other staff, even Bands, that I might break the brotherhood between Judah and Israel.

15 And the Lord said unto me, Take unto thee yet the instruments of a foolish shepherd.

16 For, lo, I will raise up a shepherd in the land, which shall not visit those that be cut off, neither shall seek the young one, nor heal that that is broken, nor feed that that standeth still: but he shall eat the flesh of the fat, and tear their claws in pieces.

17 Woe to the idol shepherd that leaveth the flock! the sword shall be upon his arm, and upon his right eye: his arm shall be clean dried up, and his right eye shall be utterly darkened.

Commentary
Verses 4-14 — Christ came into this world for judgment to the Jewish church and nation, which were wretchedly corrupt and degenerate. Those have their minds wofully blinded, who do ill, and justify themselves in it; but God will not hold those guiltless who hold themselves so. How can we go to God to beg a blessing on unlawful methods of getting wealth, or to return thanks for success in them? There was a general decay of religion among them, and they regarded it not. The Good Shepherd would feed his flock, but his attention would chiefly be directed to the poor. As an emblem, the prophet seems to have taken two staves; Beauty, denoted the privileges of the Jewish nation, in their national covenant; the other he called Bands, denoting the harmony which hitherto united them as the flock of God. But they chose to cleave to false teachers. The carnal mind and the friendship of the world are enmity to God; and God hates all the workers of iniquity: it is easy to foresee what this will end in. The prophet demanded wages, or a reward, and received thirty pieces of silver. By Divine direction he cast it to the potter, as in disdain for the smallness of the sum. This shadowed forth the bargain of Judas to betray Christ, and the final method of applying it. Nothing ruins a people so certainly, as weakening the brotherhood among them. This follows the dissolving of the covenant between God and them: when sin abounds, love waxes cold, and civil contests follow. No wonder if those fall out among themselves, who have provoked God to fall out with them. Wilful contempt of Christ is the great cause of men's ruin. And if professors rightly valued Christ, they would not contend about little matters.

Verses 15-17 — God, having showed the misery of this people in their being justly left by the Good Shepherd, shows their further misery in being abused by foolish shepherds. The description suits the character Christ gives of the scribes and Pharisees. They never do any thing to support the weak, or comfort the feeble-minded; but seek their own ease, while they are barbarous to the flock. The idol shepherd has the garb and appearance of a shepherd, receives submission, and is supported at much expense; but he leaves the flock to perish through neglect, or leads them to ruin by his example. This suits many in different churches and nations, but the warning had an awful fulfilment in the Jewish teachers. And while such deceive others to their ruin, they will themselves have the deepest condemnation.

Revelation 19:1-9
Praise of God’s judgments

19:1 And after these things I heard a great voice of much people in heaven, saying, Alleluia; Salvation, and glory, and honour, and power, unto the Lord our God:

2 For true and righteous are his judgments: for he hath judged the great whore, which did corrupt the earth with her fornication, and hath avenged the blood of his servants at her hand.

3 And again they said, Alleluia And her smoke rose up for ever and ever.

4 And the four and twenty elders and the four beasts fell down and worshipped God that sat on the throne, saying, Amen; Alleluia.

5 And a voice came out of the throne, saying, Praise our God, all ye his servants, and ye that fear him, both small and great.

6 And I heard as it were the voice of a great multitude, and as the voice of many waters, and as the voice of mighty thunderings, saying, Alleluia: for the Lord God omnipotent reigneth.

7 Let us be glad and rejoice, and give honour to him: for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and his wife hath made herself ready.

8 And to her was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white: for the fine linen is the righteousness of saints.

9 And he saith unto me, Write, Blessed are they which are called unto the marriage supper of the Lamb. And he saith unto me, These are the true sayings of God.

Commentary
Praising God for what we have, is praying for what is yet further to be done for us. There is harmony between the angels and the saints in this triumphant song. Christ is the Bridegroom of his ransomed church. This second union will be completed in heaven; but the beginning of the glorious millennium (by which is meant a reign of Christ, or a state of happiness, for a thousand years on earth) may be considered as the celebration of his espousals on earth. Then the church of Christ, being purified from errors, divisions, and corruptions, in doctrine, discipline, worship, and practice, will be made ready to be publicly owned by him as his delight and his beloved. The church appeared; not in the gay, gaudy dress of the mother of harlots, but in fine linen, clean and white. In the robes of Christ's righteousness, imputed for justification, and imparted for sanctification. The promises of the gospel, the true sayings of God, opened, applied, and sealed by the Spirit of God, in holy ordinances, are the marriage-feast. This seems to refer to the abundant grace and consolation Christians will receive in the happy days which are to come. The apostle offered honour to the angel. The angel refused it. He directed the apostle to the true and only object of religious worship; to worship God, and him alone. This plainly condemns the practice of those who worship the elements of bread and wine, and saints, and angels; and of those who do not believe that Christ is truly and by nature God, yet pay him a sort of worship. They stand convicted of idolatry by a messenger from heaven. These are the true sayings of God; of Him who is to be worshipped, as one with the Father and the Holy Spirit.

The Bible texts of the Old Testament, Epistle, and Gospel lessons are from The Holy Bible, King James Version (KJV).

Commentaries from Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary on the Bible.

The Daily Bible Readings are selected from the Revised Common Lectionary Daily Readings, 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 Readings for TUESDAY, November 24, 2020
Psalm 28; Zechariah 11:4-17; Revelation 19:1-9 (KJV)

Prayer of the Day for TUESDAY, November 24, 2020

 

Prayer of the Day
Tuesday, November 24, 2020

Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them…For I tell you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the Pharisees and the teachers of the law, you will certainly not enter the kingdom of heaven.

— Matthew 5:17, 20 (NIV)

O Lord God, give us new hearts, teach us a new way on earth, so that through your commandments all people may act in accordance with your Word and may become one. Only you can do this, working through your promised Holy Spirit, and you will do it in order that the earth may become a paradise, a heavenly kingdom pleasing to you. Let your words be written in our hearts, and help us to fulfill your commandments in our daily life. Only by carrying out your commandments may we foolish, sinful people be made perfect, our sins be forgiven, and everything become right and good in your sight. Stay with us, Lord God, our Father. Help us in everything. Let something new, something pleasing to you, soon come into our time. Put your commandments into our hearts, that peace may be restored to the glory of your name. Amen.

Verse of the Day for TUESDAY, November 24, 2020

 

Verse of the Day
TUESDAY, November 24, 2020

Colossians 2:6-7

As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in him: Rooted and built up in him, and stablished in the faith, as ye have been taught, abounding therein with thanksgiving.

How did you receive Jesus as your Lord and Savior? By faith. And that is exactly how you grow into maturity—by faith. The ability to accomplish all God has planned for you is within you through the presence, power, and wisdom of the Holy Spirit. So if you wish to develop your relationship with Him and become all you were created to be, you must willingly surrender yourself to His promptings and trust Him, no matter what He commands you to do.

Read all of Colossians 2

Listen to Colossians 2

The Holy Bible, King James Version (KJV)

Ichthus Ministries Daily Devotions — Longing

 

Longing

Oh that You would rend the heavens and come down, that the mountains might quake at Your presence—as when fire kindles brushwood and the fire causes water to boil—to make Your Name known to Your adversaries, and that the nations might tremble at Your presence! When You did awesome things that we did not look for, You came down, the mountains quaked at Your presence. From of old no one has heard or perceived by the ear, no eye has seen a God besides You, who acts for those who wait for Him. You meet him who joyfully works righteousness, those who remember You in Your ways. Behold, You were angry, and we sinned; in our sins we have been a long time, and shall we be saved? We have all become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous deeds are like a polluted garment. We all fade like a leaf, and our iniquities, like the wind, take us away. There is no one who calls upon Your Name, who rouses himself to take hold of You; for You have hidden Your face from us, and have made us melt in the hand of our iniquities. But now, O LORD, you are our Father; we are the clay, and You are our potter; we are all the work of Your hand. Be not so terribly angry, O LORD, and remember not iniquity forever. Behold, please look, we are all Your people.

— Isaiah 64:1-9

Listen to Isaiah's words: "Oh that You would rend the heavens and come down!" Isaiah is longing for God to come near, longing for the presence of the Lord. He is almost heartsick for him—our living water, our breath of life. Isaiah looks back to the old days, when Israel walked with God through the wilderness and met him at Mount Sinai. Now those were the days, Isaiah feels.

But it isn't like that anymore. And why? Because the people have done evil in their words and thoughts and actions; they have cut themselves off from the Source of life, from God Himself, and they suffer for it. And Isaiah confesses that this is true of him as well.

It's true of us, too, isn't it? We too have sinned. We too have wandered far from the Lord, and we long for the God we forsook. But just like Isaiah and the people of Israel, we cannot get back to God's presence on our own. Either God rends the heavens and comes down, or we are lost. It is that simple.

From his point in history, Isaiah pleads with God. "Be not so terribly angry, O LORD, and remember not iniquity forever." Isaiah has hope because he knows that God is merciful. But from our point in history, we have something even better—the knowledge that God has already heard our prayers, has opened the heavens and come down—as the Man Jesus Christ, our Savior, born to deliver us.

Now we don't need to long for the good old days of God's presence at Sinai. We have something far better—God in the flesh, bearing our sins on the cross, and leaving them behind in the grave as He rises from the dead three days later. Now we have Jesus, who is our life and salvation. Our longing hearts can be satisfied, because He has said to us, "I will never leave you nor forsake you" (Hebrews 13:5b).

Lord, let me live always in Your presence. In Jesus' Name. Amen.

Dr. Kari Vo

Reflection Questions:

1. When do you feel lonely or sad?

2. What do you do when you feel a longing for God?

3. How do you know that Jesus is with you, whether you feel Him or not?

Use these devotions in your newsletter and bulletin! Used by permission; all rights reserved by the Int'l LLL (LHM).
When do you feel lonely or sad?

Standing Strong Through the Storm — ASHAMED OF JESUS

 

ASHAMED OF JESUS

Whoever is ashamed of me and my words, the Son of Man will be ashamed of them when he comes in his glory and in the glory of the Father and of the holy angels.

— Luke 9:26

Young believers in the Lord in Muslim cultures often struggle with the issue of publicly declaring their new faith in Jesus. Shadiya is the youngest of five children in a Muslim family. At the age of eighteen, she came in contact with a group of young people in the church of Pastor Jamil. During the summer of 2011, the church was visited by a group of other young Christians. During that time, Shadiya decided to follow Jesus.

One day she forgot to hide her Bible, and her younger brother found it. He asked his father about this striking book with a large cross prominent on the cover. Father was shocked. He soon found out that Shadiya brought the book into their house.

Initially dumbfounded by the hostile attitude of her father, Shadiya stood firm for what she believed. She admitted that she had become a Christian, that she received the Bible from some friends, and that she no longer is a Muslim. Her father interpreted this as denying her identity. This, in his opinion, was a betrayal of the entire family and the Muslim community. In other words, the shame for the family was unbearable. So in her father’s eyes, there was only one option; force Shadiya to deny her faith in Christ. “If you refuse to deny your new faith, you are no longer welcome in our home!” he yelled at her. Shadiya still held on to faith in Jesus.

The situation deteriorated even more after her father went to the mosque and shared the “apostasy” of his daughter with the local imam. They decided she had to deny her Christian faith openly and confess the Islamic faith in public. If she refused to do so, she would have to pay with her life. She would be stoned by the Muslim community.

She asked her apostate brother-in-law, Amir, for advice. He suggested that she do what they asked of her and remain a secret follower of Jesus. In her heart, she could remain a believer in Christ, although she would openly deny her faith to save her life. Shadiya was not really convinced that this was the right thing to do and was full of doubt. In the end, she followed the advice of Amir.

The prospect of becoming a martyr at the age of eighteen was now over, but Shadiya remained doubtful about her decision. She and Amir asked Pastor Jamil what he thought about it.

“This could have been an opportunity for the whole family or the entire village to see God working in the life of an eighteen-year-old girl,” he replied. “It is a great challenge to deal with our fear; still, we should rely on Jesus, rather than basing our choices on fear.”

The situation for Shadiya now seems less tense, but the risk of escalation remains.

RESPONSE: Today, I will not allow fear to control me…especially regarding the public declaration of my faith.

PRAYER: Pray for Shadiya and the people surrounding her. Ask our Father to further His kingdom through her and fellow-believers who are cautiously trying to help her to grow in faith.

Standing Strong Through The Storm (SSTS), a daily devotional message by SSTS author Paul Estabrooks. © 2011 Open Doors International. Used by permission.
Young believers in the Lord in Muslim cultures often struggle with the issue of publicly declaring their new faith in Jesus.

John Piper Devotional — Hold Fast to Your Hope

 

Hold Fast to Your Hope

So when God desired to show more convincingly to the heirs of the promise the unchangeable character of his purpose, he guaranteed it with an oath, so that by two unchangeable things, in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have fled for refuge might have strong encouragement to hold fast to the hope set before us.

— Hebrews 6:17-18

 
Why does the writer encourage us to hold fast to our hope? If our holding fast was obtained and irrevocably secured by the blood of Jesus, then why does God tell us to hold fast?

The answer is this:

• What Christ bought for us when he died was not the freedom from having to hold fast but the enabling power to hold fast.
• What he bought was not the nullification of our wills as though we didn’t have to hold fast, but the empowering of our wills because we want to hold fast.
• What he bought was not the canceling of the commandment to hold fast but the fulfillment of the commandment to hold fast.
• What he bought was not the end of exhortation, but the triumph of exhortation.

He died so that you would do exactly what Paul did in Philippians 3:12, “I press on in order that I may lay hold of that for which also I was laid hold of by Christ Jesus.” It is not foolishness; it is the gospel, to tell a sinner to do what Christ alone can enable him to do, namely, hope in God.

So I exhort you with all my heart: reach out and take hold of that for which you have been taken hold of by Christ, and hold it fast with all his might.
If our holding fast was obtained and irrevocably secured by the blood of Jesus, then why does God tell us to hold fast?

Un dia a la Vez — Oración por cambios en el matrimonio

 

Oración por cambios en el matrimonio

Dios, nuestro Dios, nos bendecirá. Dios nos bendecirá, y le temerán todos los confines de la tierra.

— Salmo 67:6-7

Amante Dios, me presento delante de ti porque solo tú puedes ayudarme.

Te pido perdón por mis faltas, mis pensamientos y mis actitudes que me han apartado de tu voluntad respecto al matrimonio.

Reconozco que te he fallado al romper ese pacto de amor incondicional en mi matrimonio y destruyendo mi familia.

Ahora solo puedo acudir a ti para pedirte una nueva oportunidad. Ayúdame, Señor, a recuperar el amor y a mi familia.

Te prometo, mi Dios, que pondré todo de mi parte y seré obediente a ti. Dejaré a un lado la crítica a mi cónyuge y empezaré por cambiar yo.

Muéstrame, Señor, mis errores y guíame para hacer tu voluntad.

Bendice a mi familia.

En el nombre de Jesús, amén y amén.

Un Día a la Vez Copyright © by Claudia Pinzón
Oración por cambios en el matrimonio: Amante Dios, me presento delante de ti porque solo tú puedes ayudarme…

Devocional CPTLN — Añoranzas

 

Añoranzas

¡Cómo quisiera que rasgaras los cielos y bajaras! ¡Que los montes se derritieran ante ti como ante un fuego abrasador que todo lo funde, como un fuego que hace hervir el agua! ¡Así tu nombre sería reconocido por tus enemigos, y las naciones temblarían en tu presencia! Cuando tú descendiste e hiciste maravillas que nunca imaginamos, los montes temblaron ante ti. Nunca antes hubo oídos que lo oyeran ni ojos que lo vieran, ni nadie supo de un Dios que, como tú, actuara en favor de aquellos que en él confían. Tú has salido al encuentro de los que practican la justicia con alegría, y de los que se acuerdan de ti y siguen tus enseñanzas. Pero te enojas si pecamos y no dejamos de pecar. ¿Acaso podremos alcanzar la salvación? Todos nosotros estamos llenos de impureza; todos nuestros actos de justicia son como un trapo lleno de inmundicia. Todos nosotros somos como hojas caídas; ¡nuestras maldades nos arrastran como el viento! Ya no hay nadie que invoque tu nombre, ni que se despierte y busque tu apoyo. Por eso nos diste la espalda, y nos dejaste caer en poder de nuestras maldades. Pero tú, Señor, eres nuestro padre; nosotros somos el barro y tú eres quien nos da forma; todos nosotros somos obra de tus manos. No te enojes demasiado, Señor, ni tengas presente nuestra iniquidad todo el tiempo. Toma en cuenta que todos nosotros somos tu pueblo.

— Isaías 64:1-9

Escucha las palabras de Isaías: "¡Cómo quisiera que rasgaras los cielos y bajaras!" Isaías anhela que Dios se acerque, anhela la presencia del Señor. Le duele estar alejado del agua viva, del aliento de la vida. Recuerda los viejos tiempos, cuando Israel había caminado con Dios por el desierto y se había encontrado con Él en el monte Sinaí. Esos sí eran días felices, piensa Isaías.

Pero ya no es así. ¿Por qué? Porque el pueblo se ha comportado mal en sus palabras, pensamientos y acciones; se han separado de la fuente de la vida, de Dios mismo, y sufren por ello. E Isaías confiesa que esto también es cierto para él.

Y también es cierto para nosotros. Nosotros también nos hemos alejado del Señor y anhelamos al Dios que hemos abandonado. Pero al igual que Isaías y el pueblo de Israel, no podemos regresar a la presencia de Dios por nuestra cuenta. O Dios rasga los cielos y desciende, o estamos perdidos. Es así de simple.

Desde su momento en la historia, Isaías suplica a Dios: "No te enojes demasiado, Señor, ni tengas presente nuestra iniquidad todo el tiempo". Tiene esperanza porque sabe que Dios es misericordioso. Pero desde nuestro momento en la historia tenemos algo aún mejor: el conocimiento de que Dios ya ha escuchado nuestras oraciones, ha abierto los cielos y ha bajado en la persona de Jesucristo, nuestro Salvador, nacido para librarnos.

Ya no necesitamos añorar los buenos viejos tiempos de la presencia de Dios en el Sinaí. Tenemos algo mucho mejor: Dios en la carne, cargando nuestros pecados en la cruz, dejándolos en la tumba y resucitando de entre los muertos tres días después. Ahora tenemos a Jesús, quien es nuestra vida y salvación. Nuestros corazones anhelantes pueden estar satisfechos, porque Él nos ha dicho: "No te dejaré ni te desampararé jamás" (Hebreos 13:5b).

ORACIÓN: Señor, déjame vivir siempre en Tu presencia. Amén.

Dra. Kari Vo

Para reflexionar:

1. ¿Qué haces cuando anhelas a Dios?

2. ¿Cómo sabes que Jesús está contigo, más allá de que lo sientas o no?

© Copyright 2020 Cristo Para Todas Las Naciones. Que a través de estos devocionales, la Palabra de Dios te refresque en tu diario caminar.
¿Qué haces cuando anhelas a Dios?

Nuestro Pan Diario — La enseñanza de los pavos

 

La enseñanza de los pavos

La escritura de hoy: Mateo 6:25-34
La Biblia en un año: Ezequiel 22–23; 1 Pedro 1

Mirad las aves del cielo, que no siembran, ni siegan, ni recogen en graneros; y vuestro Padre celestial las alimenta.

— Mateo 6:26

¿Sabes cómo se llama un grupo de pavos? Se llama «averío». ¿Por qué escribo sobre los pavos? Porque acabo de volver de un fin de semana en una cabaña de montaña. Cada día, me maravillaba ante la fila de pavos que desfilaban por nuestro porche.

Nunca antes me había detenido a mirar pavos. Escarbaban y picoteaban el suelo. Comiendo, supongo. Los arbustos escuálidos de la zona no parecían demasiado nutritivos. Sin embargo, aquí estaba esta docena de pavos, todos deliciosamente regordetes.

Mirar esos pavos bien alimentados me trajo a la mente las palabras de Jesús en Mateo 6:26: «Mirad las aves del cielo, que no siembran, ni siegan, ni recogen en graneros; y vuestro Padre celestial las alimenta. ¿No valéis vosotros mucho más que ellas?». Jesús usa la provisión de Dios para aves aparentemente sin valor para recordarnos que Él nos cuida. Si la vida de un ave es importante, ¡cuánto más la nuestra!

Después, Jesús contrasta la preocupación por nuestras necesidades diarias (vv. 27-31) con buscar «primeramente el reino de Dios y su justicia» (v. 33), asegurándonos que proveerá ricamente para nuestras necesidades. Porque si Dios puede cuidar ese averío, puede en verdad cuidarnos a ti y a mí.

De:  Adam R. Holz

Reflexiona y ora

Padre, ayúdame a recordar tu provisión en el pasado para que pueda confiar mejor en ti en el futuro.
¿Dónde has visto a Dios proveer para algo que te preocupaba? ¿Cómo podría ayudarnos recordar y reflexionar en su provisión en el pasado a no estar ansiosos en el futuro?

© 2020 Ministerios Nuestro Pan Diario
¿Sabes cómo se llama un grupo de pavos? Se llama «averío».