Daily Devotional #1

Day 8

Today, we're reading in Genesis, Matthew, and Proverbs.

This might be an awkward passage to read but hang in there.

When Abram was 99 years old, the Lord appeared to him. He said, "I am God All-Powerful. Obey me and live the right way. If you do this, I will prepare an agreement between us. I will promise to make your people a great nation." Then Abram bowed down before God. God said to him, "This is my part of our agreement: I will make you the father of many nations. I will change your name from Abram to Abraham, because I am making you the father of many nations. I will give you many descendants. New nations and kings will come from you. And I will prepare an agreement between me and you. This agreement will also be for all your descendants. It will continue forever. I will be your God and the God of all your descendants. And I will give this land to you and to all your descendants. I will give you the land you are traveling through-the land of Canaan. I will give you this land forever, and I will be your God." Then God said to Abraham, "Now, this is your part of the agreement: You and all your descendants will obey my agreement. This is my agreement that all of you must obey. This is the agreement between me and you and all your descendants. Every male must be circumcised. You will cut the skin to show that you follow the agreement between me and you. When the baby boy is eight days old, you will circumcise him. Every boy born among your people and every boy who is a slave of your people must be circumcised. So every baby boy in your nation will be circumcised. Every boy who is born from your family or bought as a slave will be circumcised. Abraham, this is the agreement between you and me: Any male who is not circumcised will be cut off from his people because he has broken my agreement." God said to Abraham, "I will give Sarai, your wife, a new name. Her new name will be Sarah. I will bless her. I will give her a son, and you will be the father. She will be the mother of many new nations. Kings of nations will come from her." Abraham bowed his face to the ground to show he respected God. But he laughed and said to himself, "I am 100 years old. I cannot have a son, and Sarah is 90 years old. She cannot have a child." Then Abraham said to God, "I hope Ishmael will live and serve you." God said, "No, I said that your wife Sarah will have a son. You will name him Isaac. I will make my agreement with him that will continue forever with all his descendants. "You mentioned Ishmael, and I heard you. I will bless him, and he will have many children. He will be the father of twelve great leaders. His family will become a great nation. But I will make my agreement with Isaac, the son who Sarah will have. He will be born at this same time next year." After God finished talking with Abraham, God went up into heaven. Then Abraham gathered together Ishmael and all the slaves born in his house. He also gathered all the slaves he had bought. Every man and boy in Abraham's house was gathered together, and they were all circumcised. Abraham circumcised them that day, just as God had told him to do. Abraham was 99 years old when he was circumcised. And Ishmael, his son, was 13 years old when he was circumcised. Abraham and his son were circumcised on the same day. Also, on that day all the men in Abraham's house were circumcised. All the slaves born in his house and all the slaves he had bought were circumcised. (‭Genesis‬ ‭17‬:‭1-27‬ ERV)

Later, the Lord again appeared to Abraham near the oak trees of Mamre. It was the hottest part of the day, and Abraham was sitting at the door of his tent. He looked up and saw three men standing in front of him. When he saw the men, he ran to them and bowed before them. Abraham said, "Sirs, please stay a while with me, your servant. I will bring some water to wash your feet. You can rest under the trees. I will get some food for you, and you can eat as much as you want. Then you can continue your journey." The three men said, "Do as you wish." Abraham hurried to the tent. He said to Sarah, "Quickly, prepare enough flour for three loaves of bread." Then Abraham ran to his cattle. He took his best young calf and gave it to the servant there. He told the servant to quickly kill the calf and prepare it for food. Abraham brought the meat and some milk and cheese and set them down in front of the three men. Then he stood near the men, ready to serve them while they sat under the tree and ate. Then the men said to Abraham, "Where is your wife Sarah?" Abraham said, "She is there, in the tent." Then one of them said, "I will come again in the spring. At that time your wife Sarah will have a son." Sarah was listening in the tent and heard these things. Abraham and Sarah were very old. Sarah was past the right age for women to have children. So she laughed to herself and said, "I am old, and my husband is old. I am too old to have a baby." Then the Lord said to Abraham, "Sarah laughed and said she was too old to have a baby. But is anything too hard for the Lord? I will come again in the spring, just as I said I would, and your wife Sarah will have a son." Sarah said, "I didn't laugh!" (She said this because she was afraid.) Then the Lord said, "No, I know that is not true. You did laugh!" Then the men got up to leave. They looked toward Sodom and began walking in that direction. Abraham walked with them to send them on their way. The Lord said to himself, "Should I tell Abraham what I am going to do now? Abraham will become a great and powerful nation, and all the nations on earth will be blessed because of him. I have made a special agreement with him. I did this so that he would command his children and his descendants to live the way the Lord wants them to. I did this so that they would live right and be fair. Then I, the Lord, can give him what I promised." Then the Lord said, "I have heard many times that the people of Sodom and Gomorrah are very evil. I will go and see if they are as bad as I have heard. Then I will know for sure." So the men turned and started walking toward Sodom while Abraham stood there before the Lord. Then Abraham approached him and asked, "Will you destroy the good people while you are destroying those who are evil? What if there are fifty good people in that city? Will you still destroy it? Surely you will save the city for the fifty good people living there. Surely you would not destroy the city. You would not destroy fifty good people to kill those who are evil. If that happened, those who are good would be the same as those who are evil-both would be punished. As the judge of the whole world, surely you would do the right thing!" Then the Lord said, "If I find fifty good people in the city of Sodom, I will save the whole city." Then Abraham said, "Compared to you, Lord, I am only dust and ashes. But let me bother you again and ask you this question. What if there are five less than fifty? Will you destroy a whole city because of just five people?" The Lord said, "If I find forty-five good people there, I will not destroy the city." Abraham spoke again. He said, "And if you find only forty good people there, will you destroy the city?" The Lord said, "If I find forty good people, I will not destroy the city." Then Abraham said, "Lord, please don't be angry with me, but let me ask you this. If only thirty good people are in the city, will you destroy it?" The Lord said, "If I find thirty good people there, I will not destroy the city." Then Abraham said, "Lord, may I bother you again and ask, what if there are twenty good people?" The Lord answered, "If I find twenty good people, I will not destroy the city." Then Abraham said, "Lord, please don't be angry with me, but let me bother you this one last time. If you find ten good people there, what will you do?" The Lord said, "If I find ten good people in the city, I will not destroy it." The Lord finished speaking to Abraham and left. Then Abraham went back home. (‭Genesis‬ ‭18‬:‭1-33‬ ERV)

"So I tell you, don't worry about the things you need to live-what you will eat, drink, or wear. Life is more important than food, and the body is more important than what you put on it. Look at the birds. They don't plant, harvest, or save food in barns, but your heavenly Father feeds them. Don't you know you are worth much more than they are? You cannot add any time to your life by worrying about it. "And why do you worry about clothes? Look at the wildflowers in the field. See how they grow. They don't work or make clothes for themselves. But I tell you that even Solomon, the great and rich king, was not dressed as beautifully as one of these flowers. If God makes what grows in the field so beautiful, what do you think he will do for you? It's just grass-one day it's alive, and the next day someone throws it into a fire. But God cares enough to make it beautiful. Surely he will do much more for you. Your faith is so small! "Don't worry and say, 'What will we eat?' or 'What will we drink?' or 'What will we wear?' That's what those people who don't know God are always thinking about. Don't worry, because your Father in heaven knows that you need all these things. What you should want most is God's kingdom and doing what he wants you to do. Then he will give you all these other things you need. So don't worry about tomorrow. Each day has enough trouble of its own. Tomorrow will have its own worries. (‭Matthew‬ ‭6‬:‭25-34‬ ERV)

"Don't judge others, and God will not judge you. If you judge others, you will be judged the same way you judge them. God will treat you the same way you treat others. "Why do you notice the small piece of dust that is in your friend's eye, but you don't notice the big piece of wood that is in your own? Why do you say to your friend, 'Let me take that piece of dust out of your eye'? Look at yourself first! You still have that big piece of wood in your own eye. You are a hypocrite! First, take the wood out of your own eye. Then you will see clearly to get the dust out of your friend's eye. "Don't give something that is holy to dogs. They will only turn and hurt you. And don't throw your pearls to pigs. They will only step on them. "Continue to ask, and God will give to you. Continue to search, and you will find. Continue to knock, and the door will open for you. Yes, whoever continues to ask will receive. Whoever continues to look will find. And whoever continues to knock will have the door opened for them. "Do any of you have a son? If he asked for bread, would you give him a rock? Or if he asked for a fish, would you give him a snake? Of course not! You people are so bad, but you still know how to give good things to your children. So surely your heavenly Father will give good things to those who ask him. "Do for others what you would want them to do for you. This is the meaning of the Law of Moses and the teaching of the prophets. "You can enter true life only through the narrow gate. The gate to hell is very wide, and there is plenty of room on the road that leads there. Many people go that way. But the gate that opens the way to true life is narrow. And the road that leads there is hard to follow. Only a few people find it. "Be careful of false prophets. They come to you and look gentle like sheep. But they are really dangerous like wolves. You will know these people because of what they do. Good things don't come from people who are bad, just as grapes don't come from thornbushes, and figs don't come from thorny weeds. In the same way, every good tree produces good fruit, and bad trees produce bad fruit. A good tree cannot produce bad fruit, and a bad tree cannot produce good fruit. Every tree that does not produce good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. You will know these false people by what they do. "Not everyone who calls me Lord will enter God's kingdom. The only people who will enter are those who do what my Father in heaven wants. On that last Day many will call me Lord. They will say, 'Lord, Lord, by the power of your name we spoke for God. And by your name we forced out demons and did many miracles.' Then I will tell those people clearly, 'Get away from me, you people who do wrong. I never knew you.' (‭Matthew‬ ‭7‬:‭1-23‬ ERV)

My son, listen to your father when he corrects you, and don't ignore what your mother teaches you. What you learn from your parents will bring you honor and respect, like a crown or a gold medal. My son, those who love to do wrong will try to trick you. Don't listen to them. They will say, "Come with us. Let's hide and beat to death anyone who happens to walk by. We will swallow them whole, as the grave swallows the dying. We will take everything they have and fill our houses with stolen goods. So join us, and you can share everything we get." My son, don't follow them. Don't even take the first step along that path. They run to do something evil, and they cannot wait to kill someone. You cannot trap birds with a net if they see you spreading it out. But evil people cannot see the trap they set for themselves. This is what happens to those who are greedy. Whatever they get destroys them. (‭Proverbs‬ ‭1‬:‭8-19‬ ERV)