The Upper Room Daily Reflections
– Monday, 3 February 2014 “In God’s Presence”
Today’s
Reflection:
GOD IS ACTIVE in the world and in our lives in many ways. We may
feel the mystery of God as we view storm clouds brewing over an azure ocean. We
may experience the love of God when we are comforted by a friend. We may be
filled with the compassion of God as we attend a conference on the plight of
the homeless. We may be blessed by the peace of God during prayer or troubled
by the challenges of God as we study the Bible. God comes to us in our
conscious and unconscious experiences, for God is in all of life.-–Anne
Broyles, “One More Door into God’s Presence,” Weavings, May/June 1987.--Rueben
P. Job, Norman Shawchuck, and John S. Mogabgab-A Guide to Prayer for All Who
Walk with God
From page 82 of A Guide to Prayer for All Who Walk with God by
Rueben P. Job, Norman Shawchuck, and John S. Mogabgab. Copyright © 2013 by
Upper Room Books. All rights reserved. Used by permission. http://bookstore.upperroom.org/
Learn more about or purchase this book.
Today’s Question:
When do you feel the presence of God?
Today’s Scripture:
Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for in
the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.--Matthew 5:12,
NRSV
This Week: pray for those who are grieving.
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Saints, Inc.:
This week we remember:
Rabanus Maurus (February 4).
Rabanus Maurus was born to noble parents in Mainz, Germany circa
776 and was educated under Alcuin at Tours. He learned Hebrew, Greek, and
Syriac. Maurus took religious vows with the Benedictine monastery of Fulda in
801. After theological studies, Maurus became a teacher at Fulda and eventually
took over as headmaster of the monastic school. In 822 he was named Abbott and
completed the monastery buildings.
Maurus was a famed teacher of his time and developed the Fulda
School. Under his leadership the school became an intellectual center in Europe
as he worked hard to promote and improve clergy education. He also wrote
educational materials, scripture commentaries, sermons, poetry, theological
treatises, and an encyclopedia, On the Nature of Things. Maurus was considered
one of the most learned men of his century.
In 847 he was named Archbishop of Mainz, and died in Winkel on
Rhine in 856.
If Rabanus Maurus had taken the Spiritual Types Test, he
probably would have been a Sage. Rabanus Maurus is remembered on February 4.
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Lectionary Readings
(Courtesy of Vanderbilt Divinity Library)
Isaiah 58: False and True Worship
1 Shout out, do not hold back!
Lift up your voice
like a trumpet!
Announce to my people their rebellion,
to the house of Jacob
their sins.
2 Yet day after day they seek me
and delight to know my
ways,
as if they were a nation that practiced righteousness
and did not forsake
the ordinance of their God;
they ask of me righteous judgments,
they delight to draw
near to God.
3 “Why do we fast, but you do not see?
Why humble ourselves,
but you do not notice?”
Look, you serve your own interest on your fast day,
and oppress all your
workers.
4 Look, you fast only to quarrel and to fight
and to strike with a
wicked fist.
Such fasting as you do today
will not make your
voice heard on high.
5 Is such the fast that I choose,
a day to humble
oneself?
Is it to bow down the head like a bulrush,
and to lie in
sackcloth and ashes?
Will you call this a fast,
a day acceptable to
the Lord?
6 Is not this the fast that I choose:
to loose the bonds of
injustice,
to undo the thongs of
the yoke,
to let the oppressed go free,
and to break every
yoke?
7 Is it not to share your bread with the hungry,
and bring the homeless
poor into your house;
when you see the naked, to cover them,
and not to hide
yourself from your own kin?
8 Then your light shall break forth like the dawn,
and your healing shall
spring up quickly;
your vindicator[a] shall go before you,
the glory of the Lord
shall be your rear guard.
9 Then you shall call, and the Lord will answer;
you shall cry for
help, and he will say, Here I am.
If you remove the yoke from among you,
the pointing of the
finger, the speaking of evil,
10 if you offer your food to the hungry
and satisfy the needs
of the afflicted,
then your light shall rise in the darkness
and your gloom be like
the noonday.
11 The Lord will guide you continually,
and satisfy your needs
in parched places,
and make your bones
strong;
and you shall be like a watered garden,
like a spring of
water,
whose waters never
fail.
12 Your ancient ruins shall be rebuilt;
you shall raise up the
foundations of many generations;
you shall be called the repairer of the breach,
the restorer of
streets to live in.
Footnotes:
a. Isaiah 58:8 Or vindication
Psalm 112: Blessings of the Righteous
1 Praise the Lord!
Happy are those who
fear the Lord,
who greatly delight in
his commandments.
2 Their descendants will be mighty in the land;
the generation of the
upright will be blessed.
3 Wealth and riches are in their houses,
and their
righteousness endures forever.
4 They rise in the darkness as a light for the upright;
they are gracious,
merciful, and righteous.
5 It is well with those who deal generously and lend,
who conduct their
affairs with justice.
6 For the righteous will never be moved;
they will be
remembered forever.
7 They are not afraid of evil tidings;
their hearts are firm,
secure in the Lord.
8 Their hearts are steady, they will not be afraid;
in the end they will
look in triumph on their foes.
9 They have distributed freely, they have given to the poor;
their righteousness endures forever;
their horn is exalted
in honor.
10 The wicked see it and are angry;
they gnash their teeth
and melt away;
the desire of the
wicked comes to nothing.
1 Corinthians 2: Proclaiming Christ Crucified
1 When I came to you, brothers and sisters,[a] I did not come
proclaiming the mystery[b] of God to you in lofty words or wisdom. 2 For I
decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ, and him crucified. 3 And
I came to you in weakness and in fear and in much trembling. 4 My speech and my
proclamation were not with plausible words of wisdom,[c] but with a
demonstration of the Spirit and of power, 5 so that your faith might rest not
on human wisdom but on the power of God.
The True Wisdom of God
6 Yet among the mature we do speak wisdom, though it is not a
wisdom of this age or of the rulers of this age, who are doomed to perish. 7
But we speak God’s wisdom, secret and hidden, which God decreed before the ages
for our glory. 8 None of the rulers of this age understood this; for if they
had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. 9 But, as it is written,
“What no eye has seen, nor ear heard,
nor the human heart
conceived,
what God has prepared for those who love him”—
10 these things God has revealed to us through the Spirit; for
the Spirit searches everything, even the depths of God. 11 For what human being
knows what is truly human except the human spirit that is within? So also no
one comprehends what is truly God’s except the Spirit of God. 12 Now we have
received not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit that is from God, so that
we may understand the gifts bestowed on us by God. 13 And we speak of these
things in words not taught by human wisdom but taught by the Spirit, interpreting
spiritual things to those who are spiritual.[d]
14 Those who are unspiritual[e] do not receive the gifts of
God’s Spirit, for they are foolishness to them, and they are unable to
understand them because they are spiritually discerned. 15 Those who are
spiritual discern all things, and they are themselves subject to no one else’s
scrutiny.
16 “For who has known the mind of the Lord
so as to instruct
him?”
But we have the mind of Christ.
Footnotes:
a. 1 Corinthians 2:1 Gk brothers
b. 1 Corinthians 2:1 Other ancient authorities read testimony
c. 1 Corinthians 2:4 Other ancient authorities read the
persuasiveness of wisdom
d. 1 Corinthians 2:13 Or interpreting spiritual things in
spiritual language, or comparing spiritual things with spiritual
e. 1 Corinthians 2:14 Or natural
Matthew 5: Salt and Light
13 “You are the salt of the earth; but if salt has lost its
taste, how can its saltiness be restored? It is no longer good for anything,
but is thrown out and trampled under foot.
14 “You are the light of the world. A city built on a hill
cannot be hid. 15 No one after lighting a lamp puts it under the bushel basket,
but on the lampstand, and it gives light to all in the house. 16 In the same
way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works
and give glory to your Father in heaven.
The Law and the Prophets
17 “Do not think that I have come to abolish the law or the
prophets; I have come not to abolish but to fulfill. 18 For truly I tell you,
until heaven and earth pass away, not one letter,[a] not one stroke of a
letter, will pass from the law until all is accomplished. 19 Therefore, whoever
breaks[b] one of the least of these commandments, and teaches others to do the
same, will be called least in the kingdom of heaven; but whoever does them and
teaches them will be called great in the kingdom of heaven. 20 For I tell you,
unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will
never enter the kingdom of heaven.
Footnotes:
a. Matthew 5:18 Gk one iota
b. Matthew 5:19 Or annuls
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John Wesley’s Notes-Commentary for
Isaiah 58:1-12
LVIII The hypocrisy of the Jews, in their fasts, ver. 1-5. A
true fast described, ver. 6, 7. Promises to Godliness, ver. 8-12. To the
keeping of the sabbath, ver. 13, 14.
Verse 2. Yet - They cover all their wickedness with a profession
of religion. Delight - There are many men who take some pleasure in knowing
God's will and word, and yet do not conform their lives to it. As - As if they
were a righteous people. Forsook - As if they were not guilty of any apostacy
from God, or disobedience to God's precepts. Ask - As if they resolved to
observe them. In approaching - In coming to my temple to hear my word, and to
offer sacrifices.
Verse 3. Afflicted - Defrauded our appetites with fasting, of
which this phrase is used, Levit xvi, 29. Ye find - Either you indulge
yourselves in sensuality, as they did, chap. xxii, 13. But this does not agree
with that afflicting of their souls which they now professed, and which God
acknowledges; or you pursue and satisfy your own desires: though you abstain
from bodily food, you do not mortify your sinful inclinations. Exact - Your money,
got by your labour, and lent to others, either for their need or your own
advantage, which you require either with usury, or at least with rigor, when
either the general law of charity, or God's particular law, commanded the
release, or at least the forbearance of them.
Verse 4. Behold - Your fasting days, wherein you ought in a
special manner to implore the mercy of God, and to shew compassion to men, you
employ in injuring or quarrelling with your brethren, your servants or debtors,
or in contriving mischief against them. Heard - In strife and debate. By way of
ostentation.
Verse 5. Chosen - Approve of, accept, or delight in, by a
metonymy, because we delight in what we freely chuse. For a day - This may be
understood, either for a man to take a certain time to afflict his soul in, and
that either from even to even, Lev. xxiii, 32, or from morning to evening, or
for a little time. Wilt thou call - Canst thou suppose it to be so? A fast - It
being such an one as has nothing in it, but the dumb signs of a fast, nothing
of deep humiliation appearing in it, or, real reformation proceeding from it.
Acceptable day - A day that God will approve of.
Verse 6. The bands - The cruel obligations of usury and
oppression.
Verse 7. Cast out - And thereby become wanderers, having no
abiding place. To thy house - That thou be hospitable, and make thy house a
shelter to them that have none of their own left. Hide not - That seek no
occasion to excuse thyself. Thy own flesh - Some confine this to our own
kindred; but we can look on no man, but there we contemplate our own flesh, and
therefore it is barbarous, not only to tear, but not to love and succor him.
Therefore feed him as thou wouldest feed thyself, or be fed; shelter him as
thou wouldest shelter thyself, or be sheltered; clothe him as thou wouldest
clothe thyself, or be clothed; if in any of these respects thou wert in his
circumstances.
Verse 8. Thy light - Happiness and prosperity. Break forth - It
shall not only appear, but break forth, dart itself forth, notwithstanding all
difficulties, as the sun breaks, and pierces through a cloud. Thy health -
Another metaphor to express the same thing. Righteousness - The reward of thy
righteousness. Before thee - As the morning-star goes before the sun. The glory
- His glorious power and providence. Thy rereward - Thus the angel of his
presence secured the Israelites when they came up out of Egypt.
Verse 9. Answer - He will give an effectual demonstration, that
he hears thee. Here l am - A phrase that notes a person to be ready at hand to
help. Take away - From among you. The yoke - All those pressures and grievances
before mentioned. Putting forth - Done by way of scoff, or disdainful
insulting. Vanity - Any kind of evil words.
Verse 10. Draw out - Or, open, as when we open a store, to
satisfy the wants of the needy. Thy soul - Thy affection, thy pity and
compassion. Thy darkness - In the very darkness of the affliction itself thou
shalt have comfort.
Verse 11. Guide thee - Like a shepherd. And he adds continually
to shew that his conduct and blessing shall not be momentary, or of a short
continuance, but all along as it was to Israel in the wilderness. Satisfy -
Thou shalt have plenty, when others are in scarcity. Make fat - This may be
spoken in opposition to the sad effects of famine, whereby the flesh is
consumed away, that it cannot be seen, and the bones that were not seen, stick
out. A garden - If thou relieve the poor, thou shalt never be poor, but as a
well-watered garden, always flourishing. Fail not - Hebrew. deceive not, a
metaphor which farther notes also the continuance of this flourishing state,
which will not be like a land-flood, or brooks, that will soon be dried up with
drought. Thou shalt be fed with a spring of blessing, that will never fail.
Verse 12. They shall be of thee - Thy posterity. Waste places -
Cities which have lain long waste; that shall continue for many generations to
come. The breach - Breach is put for breaches, which was made by God's judgment
breaking in upon them in suffering the walls of their towns and cities to be
demolished. Paths - Those paths that led from city to city, which being now
laid desolate, and uninhabited, were grown over with grass, and weeds. To dwell
in - These accommodations being recovered, their ancient cities might be fit to
be re-inhabited.
Psalm 112:1-10
PS 112 This also is an alphabetical psalm. We have here the
character and blessedness of the righteous, ver. 1-9. The iniquity of the
wicked, ver. 10.
Verse 2. Generation - The posterity.
Verse 3. Righteousness - The fruit or reward of his
righteousness, which is God's blessing upon his estate.
Verse 4. Darkness - In the troubles and calamities of life. He -
The upright man.
Verse 5. Lendeth - Gives freely to some, and lends to others
according to the variety of their conditions. Affairs - His domestick affairs.
Discretion - Not getting his estate unjustly, nor casting it away prodigally,
nor yet withholding it from such as need it.
Verse 6. Moved - Though he may for a season be afflicted, yet he
shall not be eternally destroyed.
Verse 7. Evil tidings - At the report of approaching calamities.
Verse 9. Dispersed - His goods, freely and liberally.
Righteousness - His liberality, or the reward of it. Ever - What he gives is
not lost, but indeed is the only part of his estate, which will abide with him
to all eternity.
Verse 10. The desire - Either of the misery of good men; or of
his own constant prosperity.
1 Corinthians 2:1-16
Verse 1. And I accordingly came to you, not with loftiness of
speech or of wisdom - I did not affect either deep wisdom or eloquence.
Declaring the testimony of God - What God gave me to testify concerning his
Son.
Verse 2. I determined not to know anything - To wave all my
other knowledge, and not to preach anything, save Jesus Christ, and him
crucified - That is, what he did, suffered, taught. A part is put for the
whole.
Verse 3. And I was with you - At my first entrance. In weakness
- Of body, 2 Cor. xii, 7 And in fear - Lest I should offend any. And in much
trembling - The emotion of my mind affecting my very body.
Verse 4. And my speech in private, as well as my public
preaching, was not with the persuasive words of human wisdom, such as the wise
men of the world use; but with the demonstration of the Spirit and of power -
With that powerful kind of demonstration, which flows from the Holy Spirit;
which works on the conscience with the most convincing light, and the most
persuasive evidence.
Verse 5. That your faith might not be built on the wisdom or
power of man, but on the wisdom and power of God.
Verse 6. Yet we speak wisdom - Yea, the truest and most
excellent wisdom. Among the perfect - Adult, experienced Christians. By wisdom
here he seems to mean, not the whole Christian doctrine, but the most sublime
and abstruse parts of it. But not the wisdom admired and taught by the men of
this world, nor of the rulers of this world, Jewish or heathen, that come to
nought - Both they and their wisdom, and the world itself.
Verse 7. But we speak the mysterious wisdom of God, which was
hidden for many ages from all the world, and is still hidden even from
"babes in Christ;" much more from all unbelievers. Which God ordained
before the world - So far is this from coming to nought, like worldly wisdom.
For our glory - Arising from the glory of our Lord, and then to be revealed
when all worldly glory vanishes.
Verse 8. Had they known it - That wisdom. They would not have
crucified - Punished as a slave. The Lord of glory - The giving Christ this
august title, peculiar to the great Jehovah, plainly shows him to be the
supreme God. In like manner the Father is styled, "the Father of
glory," Eph. i, 17; and the Holy Ghost, "the Spirit of glory," 1
Pet. iv, 14. The application of this title to all the three, shows that the
Father, Son, and Holy Ghost are "the God of glory;" as the only true
God is called, Psalm xxix, 3, and Acts vii, 2.
Verse 9. But this ignorance of theirs fulfils what is written
concerning the blessings of the Messiah's kingdom. No natural man hath either
seen, heard, or known, the things which God hath prepared, saith the prophet,
for them that love him. Isaiah lxiv, 4
Verse 10. But God hath revealed - Yea, and "freely
given," ver. 12. Them to us - Even inconceivable peace, and joy
unspeakable. By his Spirit - Who intimately and fully knows them. For the
Spirit searcheth even the deep things of God - Be they ever so hidden and
mysterious; the depths both of his nature and his kingdom.
Verse 11. For what man knoweth the things of a man - All the
inmost recesses of his mind; although men are all of one nature, and so may the
more easily know one another. So the things of God knoweth no one but the
Spirit - Who, consequently, is God.
Verse 12. Now we have received, not the spirit of the world -
This spirit is not properly received; for the men of the world always had it.
But Christians receive the Spirit of God, which before they had not.
Verse 13. Which also we speak - As well as know. In words taught
by the Holy Spirit - Such are all the words of scripture. How high a regard
ought we, then, to retain for them! Explaining spiritual things by spiritual
words; or, adapting spiritual words to spiritual things - Being taught of the
Spirit to express the things of the Spirit.
Verse 14. But the natural man - That is, every man who hath not
the Spirit; who has no other way of obtaining knowledge, but by his senses and
natural understanding. Receiveth not - Does not understand or conceive. The
things of the Spirit - The things revealed by the Spirit of God, whether
relating to his nature or his kingdom. For they are foolishness to him - He is
so far from understanding, that he utterly despises, them Neither can he know
them - As he has not the will, so neither has he the power. Because they are
spiritually discerned - They can only be discerned by the aid of that Spirit,
and by those spiritual senses, which he has not.
Verse 15. But the spiritual man - He that hath the Spirit.
Discerneth all the things of God whereof we have been speaking. Yet he himself
is discerned by no man - No natural men. They neither understand what he is,
nor what he says.
Verse 16. Who - What natural man. We - Spiritual men; apostles
in particular. Have - Know, understand. The mind of Christ - Concerning the
whole plan of gospel salvation. Isaiah xl, 13
Matthew 5:13-20
Verse 13. Ye - Not the apostles, not ministers only; but all ye
who are thus holy, are the salt of the earth - Are to season others. Mark ix,
50; Luke xiv, 34.
Verse 14. Ye are the light of the world - If ye are thus holy,
you can no more be hid than the sun in the firmament: no more than a city on a
mountain - Probably pointing to that on the brow of the opposite hill.
Verse 15. Nay, the very design of God in giving you this light
was, that it might shine. Mark iv, 21; Luke viii, 16; xi, 33.
Verse 16. That they may see - and glorify - That is, that seeing
your good works, they may be moved to love and serve God likewise.
Verse 17. Think not - Do not imagine, fear, hope, that I am come
- Like your teachers, to destroy the law or the prophets. I am not come to
destroy - The moral law, but to fulfil - To establish, illustrate, and explain
its highest meaning, both by my life and doctrine.
Verse 18. Till all things shall be effected - Which it either
requires or foretells. For the law has its effect, when the rewards are given,
and the punishments annexed to it inflicted, as well as when its precepts are
obeyed. Luke xvi, 17; xxi, 33.
Verse 19. One of the least - So accounted by men; and shall
teach - Either by word or example; shall be the least - That is, shall have no
part therein.
Verse 20. The righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees -
Described in the sequel of this discourse.
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