Daily Devotions from Lutheran Hour Ministries by Pastor Ken Klaus, Speaker Emeritus of The Lutheran Hour "Tasty" for Saturday, October 7, 2017
Genesis 3:6 - So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate.Both my grandmothers were good German cooks. And, yes, I know there are connoisseurs who would say that good German food is a contradiction in terms.
That being said, to the best of my knowledge, neither of them ever used a hot pepper in any of their culinary creations. Black pepper was usually as wild as they ever got. As far as cooking with chili peppers, that was a temptation they found easy to resist.
For those of you who don't know, the heat of a chili pepper is measured in Scoville units.
A bell pepper has 0 heat and, therefore, it registers 0 on the Scoville scale. A banana pepper will come in around 500 Scoville units, and a really hot jalapeño registers 10,000. Now that gives you some perspective when I say the hottest chili pepper in the world used to be the Carolina Reaper, which registered 2.2 million Scoville units.
Having watched people eat a Carolina Reaper, I can offer this single piece of advice: don't.
But the reign of the Carolina Reaper is over. Its crown has been captured by a new chili called the "Dragon's Breath." That pretty, little, bright red chili sets the record by chalking up 2.48 million Scoville units.
• In practical terms, that chili is hotter than the pepper spray used by the U.S. Army.
• The grower says touching the pepper numbs your skin.
• More than one newspaper has said that anyone who eats the pepper raw and whole could die from anaphylactic shock.
So the question arises: why would anybody grow, mess around with, or eat such a barn burner?
The best answer to that question can be found in Genesis 3 where we see Adam and Eve eating the fruit from a tree, which had been forbidden to them. Why did they do it? The answer is threefold:
1. The fruit was good for food.
2. The food was pleasant to the eye.
3. Because they thought they could get away with it.
Adam and Eve didn't get away with it, and neither will the folks who eat the Dragon's Breath chili. The truth is the Lord has laid out His Commandments, and every time we try to circumvent or rewrite them we get into trouble.
Which leads this devotion to say give thanks to the Lord who has had mercy on you. Through His Son the terrible punishment that resulted from our eating the forbidden fruit has been erased. Because of Him you have been forgiven and saved from the fires of hell, which are hotter than a Dragon's Breath chili.
But, even so, still don't eat the forbidden fruit.
THE PRAYER: Dear Lord, forgive ears that don't hear You and eyes that still long for the forbidden fruits of sin. Grant that our hearts and minds, saved by Jesus, may learn to trust You and You alone. In Jesus' Name. Amen.
The above devotion was inspired by a number of sources, including one written by Rob Quinn for Newser. Those who wish to reference that article may do so at the following link, which was fully functional at the time this devotion was written. Please click here.
In Christ I remain His servant and yours,
Pastor Ken Klaus
Speaker Emeritus of The Lutheran Hour
Lutheran Hour Ministries
Today's Bible in a Year Reading: Hosea 1-4; Romans 14
Hosea 1:1 This is the word of Adonai that came to Hoshea the son of Be’eri during the reigns of ‘Uziyah, Yotam, Achaz and Y’chizkiyah, kings of Y’hudah, and during the reign of Yarov‘am the son of Yo’ash, king of Isra’el. 2 Adonai’s opening words in speaking to Hoshea were to instruct Hoshea,
“Go, marry a whore,
and have children with this whore;
for the land is engaged in flagrant whoring,
whoring away from Adonai.”
3 So he went and married Gomer the daughter of Divlayim, and she conceived and bore him a son. 4 Adonai said to him, “Call him Yizre‘el, because in only a short time I will punish the house of Yehu for having shed blood at Yizre‘el; I will put an end to the kingdom of the house of Isra’el. 5 When that day comes, I will break the bow of Isra’el in the Yizre‘el Valley.”
6 She conceived again and bore a daughter. Adonai said to him, “Name her Lo-Ruchamah [unpitied], for I will no longer have pity on the house of Isra’el. By no means will I forgive them. 7 But I will pity the house of Y’hudah; I will save them not by bow, sword, battle, horses or cavalry, but by Adonai their God.”
8 After weaning Lo-Ruchamah, she conceived and bore a son. 9 Adonai said, “Name him Lo-‘Ammi [not-my-people], because you are not my people, and I will not be your [God].
2:1 (1:10) “Nevertheless, the people of Isra’el will number as many as the grains of sand by the sea, which cannot be measured or counted; so that the time will come when, instead of being told, ‘You are not my people,’ it will be said to them, ‘You are the children of the living God.’ 2 (1:11) Then the people of Y’hudah and the people of Isra’el will be gathered together; they will appoint for themselves one leader; and they will go up out of the land; for that will be a great day, [the day] of Yizre‘el.
3 (1) “Say to your brothers, ‘Ammi [My People]!’
and to your sisters, ‘Ruchamah [Pitied]!’
4 (2) Rebuke your mother, rebuke her;
for she isn’t my wife, and I’m not her husband.
She must remove her whoring from her face,
and her adulteries from between her breasts.
5 (3) Otherwise, I will strip her naked
and place her as she was the day she was born,
make her like a desert, place her like a dry land
and kill her with thirst.
6 (4) I will have no pity on her children,
for they are children of whoring —
7 (5) their mother prostituted herself,
she who conceived them behaved shamelessly;
she said, ‘I will pursue my lovers,
who give me my food and water,
wool, flax, olive oil and wine.’
8 (6) Therefore, I will block her way with thorns
and put up a hedge so she can’t find her paths.
9 (7) She will pursue her lovers but not catch them.
She will seek them but won’t find them.
Then she will say, ‘I will go
and return to my first husband;
because things were better for me then
than they are now.’
10 (8) For she doesn’t know it was I who gave her
the grain, the wine and the oil;
I who increased her silver and gold,
which they used for Ba‘al.
11 (9) So I will take back my grain at harvest-time
and my wine in its season;
I will snatch away my wool and flax,
given to cover her naked body.
12 (10) Now I will uncover her shame,
while her lovers watch;
and no one will save her from me.
13 (11) I will end her happiness,
her festivals, Rosh-Hodesh, and shabbats,
and all her designated times.
14 (12) I will ravage her vines and fig trees,
of which she says, ‘These are my wages
that my lovers have given me.’
But I will turn them into a forest,
and wild animals will eat them.
15 (13) I will punish her for offering incense
on the feast days of the ba‘alim,
when she decked herself with her earrings and jewels,
pursuing her lovers and forgetting me,” says Adonai.
16 (14) “But now I am going to woo her —
I will bring her out to the desert
and I will speak to her heart.
17 (15) I will give her her vineyards from there
and the Akhor Valley as a gateway to hope.
She will respond there as she did when young,
as she did when she came up from Egypt.
18 (16) “On that day,” says Adonai
“you will call me Ishi [My Husband];
you will no longer call me Ba‘ali [My Master].
19 (17) For I will remove the names
of the ba‘alim from her mouth;
they will never again be mentioned by name.
20 (18) When that day comes, I will make
a covenant for them
with the wild animals, the birds in the air
and the creeping things of the earth.
I will break bow and sword,
sweep battle from the land,
and make them lie down securely.
21 (19) I will betroth you to me forever;
yes, I will betroth you to me
in righteousness, in justice,
in grace and in compassion;
22 (20) I will betroth you to me in faithfulness,
and you will know Adonai.
23 (21) When that day comes,
I will answer,” says Adonai
“I will answer the sky,
and it will answer the earth;
24 (22) the earth will answer the corn, wine and oil,
and they will answer Yizre‘el [God will sow].
25 (23) I will sow her for me in the land.
I will have pity on Lo-Ruchamah [Unpitied];
I will say to Lo-‘Ammi [Not-My-People], ‘You are my people’;
and they will say, ‘You are my God.’”
3:1 Adonai said to me, “Go once more, and show love to [this] wife [of yours] who has been loved by her boyfriend, to this adulteress — just as Adonai loves the people of Isra’el, even though they turn to other gods and love the raisin cakes [offered to them].”
2 So I bought her back for myself with fifteen pieces of silver and eight bushels of barley . 3 Then I told her, “You are to remain in seclusion for a long time and be mine. You are not to be a prostitute, and you are not to be with any other man; and I won’t come in to have sex with you either.” 4 For the people of Isra’el are going to be in seclusion for a long time without a king, prince, sacrifice, standing-stone, ritual vest or household gods. 5 Afterwards, the people of Isra’el will repent and seek Adonai their God and David their king; they will come trembling to Adonai and his goodness in the acharit-hayamim.
4:1 Hear the word of Adonai,
people of Isra’el!
For Adonai has a grievance
against the inhabitants of the land:
there is no truth, no faithful love
or knowledge of God in the land;
2 only swearing and lying, killing and stealing
and committing adultery!
They break all bounds, with one blood crime
following another.
3 Therefore the land mourns,
and everyone living there languishes,
wild animals too, and the birds in the air;
even the fish in the sea are removed.
4 But no one should quarrel or rebuke,
because your people are having to quarrel with the cohen.
5 Therefore you will stumble by day,
and the prophet will stumble with you at night.
“I will destroy your mother.
6 My people are destroyed for want of knowledge.
Because you rejected knowledge,
I will also reject you as cohen for me.
Because you forgot the Torah of your God,
I will also forget your children.
7 The more they increased in number,
the more they sinned against me.
I will change their glory into shame.
8 They feed on the sin of my people
and are greedy for their crimes.
9 But the cohen will fare
no better than the people;
I will punish him for his ways
and pay him back for his deeds.
10 They will eat but not have enough
and consort with whores but have no children,
because they stopped listening to Adonai.
11 Whoring and wine, both old and new,
take away my people’s wits.
12 My people consult their piece of wood,
their diviner’s wand speaks to them;
for the spirit of whoring makes them err,
they go off whoring, deserting their God.
13 They sacrifice on the mountain peaks
and offer incense on the hills
under oaks, poplars and pistachio trees;
because they give good shade.
Therefore your daughters behave like whores,
And your daughters-in-law commit adultery.
14 I won’t punish your daughters when they act like whores,
or your daughters-in-law when they commit adultery;
because the men are themselves going off with whores
and sacrificing with prostitutes.
Yes, a people without understanding
will come to ruin.”
15 If you, Isra’el, prostitute yourself,
still Y’hudah has no need to incur such guilt.
Don’t go to Gilgal or up to Beit-Aven,
and don’t swear, “As Adonai lives.”
16 For Isra’el is stubborn as a stubborn cow;
will Adonai now feed them like a lamb in a big pasture?
17 Efrayim is joined to idols;
let him alone!
18 When they finish carousing, they start their whoring;
their rulers deeply love dishonor.
19 The wind will carry them off in its wings
and their sacrifices bring them nothing but shame.
Romans 14:1 Now as for a person whose trust is weak, welcome him — but not to get into arguments over opinions. 2 One person has the trust that will allow him to eat anything, while another whose trust is weak eats only vegetables. 3 The one who eats anything must not look down on the one who abstains; and the abstainer must not pass judgment on the one who eats anything, because God has accepted him — 4 who are you to pass judgment on someone else’s servant? It is before his own master that he will stand or fall; and the fact is that he will stand, because the Lord is able to make him stand.
5 One person considers some days more holy than others, while someone else regards them as being all alike. What is important is for each to be fully convinced in his own mind. 6 He who observes a day as special does so to honor the Lord. Also he who eats anything, eats to honor the Lord, since he gives thanks to God; likewise the abstainer abstains to honor the Lord, and he too gives thanks to God. 7 For none of us lives only in relation to himself, and none of us dies only in relation to himself; 8 for if we live, we live in relation to the Lord; and if we die, we die in relation to the Lord. So whether we live or die, we belong to the Lord — 9 indeed, it was for this very reason that the Messiah died and came back to life, so that he might be Lord of both the dead and the living. 10 You then, why do you pass judgment on your brother? Or why do you look down on your brother? For all of us will stand before God’s judgment seat; 11 since it is written in the Tanakh,
“As I live, says Adonai, every knee will bend before me,
and every tongue will publicly acknowledge God.”[Romans 14:11 Isaiah 45:23]
12 So then, every one of us will have to give an account of himself to God.
13 Therefore, let’s stop passing judgment on each other! Instead, make this one judgment — not to put a stumbling block or a snare in a brother’s way. 14 I know — that is, I have been persuaded by the Lord Yeshua the Messiah — that nothing is unclean in itself. But if a person considers something unclean, then for him it is unclean; 15 and if your brother is being upset by the food you eat, your life is no longer one of love. Do not, by your eating habits, destroy someone for whom the Messiah died! 16 Do not let what you know to be good, be spoken of as bad; 17 for the Kingdom of God is not eating and drinking, but righteousness, shalom and joy in the Ruach HaKodesh. 18 Anyone who serves the Messiah in this fashion both pleases God and wins the approval of other people.
19 So then, let us pursue the things that make for shalom and mutual upbuilding. 20 Don’t tear down God’s work for the sake of food. True enough, all things are clean; but it is wrong for anybody by his eating to cause someone to fall away. 21 What is good is not to eat meat or drink wine or do anything that causes your brother to stumble. 22 The belief you hold about such things, keep between yourself and God. Happy the person who is free of self-condemnation when he approves of something! 23 But the doubter comes under condemnation if he eats, because his action is not based on trust. And anything not based on trust is a sin.
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THIS CHANGES EVERYTHING.
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