| The Lutheran Hour Ministries Daily Devotionfrom Lutheran Hour Ministries by Pastor Ken Klaus, Speaker Emeritus of The Lutheran Hour - Wednesday, July 12, 2017 "Tempting Fate" |
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Daily Devotions from Lutheran Hour Ministries by Pastor Ken Klaus, Speaker Emeritus of The Lutheran Hour
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"Tempting Fate"
Wednesday, July 12, 2017
Matthew 4:5-7 - Then the devil took Him to the holy city and set Him on the pinnacle of the temple and said to Him, "If You are the Son of God, throw Yourself down, for it is written, "'He will command His angels concerning You,' and 'On their hands they will bear You up, lest You strike Your foot against a stone.'" Jesus said to him, "Again it is written, 'You shall not put the Lord your God to the test.'"
The news article said that Kirk R. Jones had "tempted fate."
I suppose some sort of case could be made for that statement. You see, in October of 2003, Kirk Jones entered the swift moving current above the 170-foot tall Horseshoe Falls, which is part of Niagara Falls. People cried out as Jones was swept over the edge and plunged to the rocks below. As had happened so often in the past, police began their preparations to try to recover a dead body.
They were shocked when Jones got out of the river with only a few broken ribs and a bruised spine. He was the first man in history to go over the Falls and survive with just the clothes on his back.
Now the Canadian government takes a dim view of such stunts and they put Jones on trial. He was found guilty of performing an unlawful stunt, fined $3,000 and told he could never come back to Canada. For the next few years, Jones worked for circuses and as a stunt man. Eventually, his exploit was forgotten and he entered semi-retirement in Florida.
Which takes us to April 19th of this year. April 19th was the day Jones tried to repeat his stunt.
This time Jones entered the water inside a 10-foot tall, inflatable rubber ball. Sadly, when the ball was picked up at the bottom of the Falls, Jones was no longer there. The body of the man who had tempted fate was discovered on June 2, some miles downstream.
Now I don't know much about tempting fate. On the other hand, I do know we are not supposed to test the Lord. I know that is true because it is a consistent message in Scripture. In the Old Testament (Deuteronomy 6:16), the Lord said His people shouldn't test Him. That command was echoed by the Savior in the fourth chapter of Matthew when, at the beginning of His ministry, our Savior was tempted by the devil.
On that day, the Christ replied, "It is written, 'You shall not put the Lord your God to the test.'"
For a long time, I wondered, as did many of my confirmation classes, just what testing the Lord meant. As far as I can see, testing the Lord has two components:
• First, a person has to approach the Lord with an attitude of doubt rather than belief.
• Second, that person needs to lay down a challenge for the Lord to prove Himself.
If you look at Jesus' trials and death, you will see many such challenges directed at Jesus. The text says Jesus refused to prove Himself to the doubters. After all, why should He? Jesus' miracles, His message of repentance and forgiveness, even the Father's voice from heaven had already shown He was the Christ, the Son of the living God. Believers know that, but if you know someone who still doubts, take them to the empty tomb to see where Jesus passed the greatest test of all.
THE PRAYER: Dear Lord, grant us hearts that believe and never doubt. Let us find all we need in Your Word, which points to Jesus as being the world's one and only Savior. In His Name we pray. Amen.
The above devotion was inspired by a number of sources, including one written by Kate Seamons for Newser on June 16, 2017. 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.
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In Christ I remain His servant and yours,
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Jonah 1:1 The word of Adonai came to Yonah the son of Amitai: 2 “Set out for the great city of Ninveh, and proclaim to it that their wickedness has come to my attention.”
3 But Yonah, in order to get away from Adonai, prepared to escape to Tarshish. He went down to Yafo, found a ship headed for Tarshish, paid the fare and went aboard, intending to travel with them to Tarshish and get away from Adonai. 4 However, Adonai let loose over the sea a violent wind, which created such stormy conditions that the ship threatened to break to pieces. 5 The sailors were frightened, and each cried out to his god. They threw the cargo overboard to make the ship easier for them to control.
Meanwhile, Yonah had gone down below into the hold, where he lay, fast asleep. 6 The ship’s captain found him and said to him, “What do you mean by sleeping? Get up! Call on your god! Maybe the god will remember us, and we won’t die.”
7 Then they said to each other, “Come, let’s draw lots to find out who is to blame for this calamity.” They drew lots, and Yonah was singled out. 8 They said to him, “Tell us now, why has this calamity come upon us? What work do you do? Where are you from? What is your country? Which is your people?” 9 He answered them, “I am a Hebrew; and I fear Adonai, the God of heaven, who made both the sea and the dry land.” 10 At this the men grew very afraid and said to him, “What is this that you have done?” For the men knew he was trying to get away from Adonai, since he had told them. 11 They asked him, “What should we do to you, so that the sea will be calm for us?” — for the sea was getting rougher all the time. 12 “Pick me up,” he told them, “and throw me into the sea. Then the sea will be calm for you; because I know it’s my fault that this terrible storm has come over you.”
13 Nevertheless, the men rowed hard, trying to reach the shore. But they couldn’t, because the sea kept growing wilder against them. 14 Finally they cried to Adonai, “Please, Adonai, please! Don’t let us perish for causing the death of this man, and don’t hold us to account for shedding innocent blood; because you, Adonai, have done what you saw fit.” 15 Then they picked up Yonah and threw him into the sea, and the sea stopped raging. 16 Seized with great fear of Adonai, they offered a sacrifice to Adonai and made vows.
2:1 (1:17) Adonai prepared a huge fish to swallow Yonah; and Yonah was in the belly of the fish for three days and three nights. 2 (1) From the belly of the fish Yonah prayed to Adonai his God; 3 (2) he said,
“Out of my distress I called to Adonai,
and he answered me;
from the belly of Sh’ol I cried,
and you heard my voice.
4 (3) For you threw me into the deep,
into the heart of the seas;
and the flood enveloped me;
all your surging waves passed over me.
5 (4) I thought, ‘I have been banished from your sight.’
But I will again look at your holy temple.
6 (5) The water surrounded me, threatened my life;
the deep closed over me, seaweed twined around my head.
7 (6) I was going down to the bottoms of the mountains,
to a land whose bars would close me in forever;
but you brought me up alive from the pit,
Adonai, my God!
8 (7) As my life was ebbing away,
I remembered Adonai;
and my prayer came in to you,
into your holy temple.
9 (8) “Those who worship vain idols
give up their source of mercy;
10 (9) but I, speaking my thanks aloud,
will sacrifice to you;
what I have vowed, I will pay.
Salvation comes from Adonai!”
11 (10) Then Adonai spoke to the fish, and it vomited Yonah out onto dry land.
3:1 The word of Adonai came to Yonah a second time: 2 “Set out for the great city of Ninveh, and proclaim to it the message I will give you.” 3 So Yonah set out and went to Ninveh, as Adonai had said. Now Ninveh was such a large city that it took three days just to cross it. 4 Yonah began his entry into the city and had finished only his first day of proclaiming, ‘In forty days Ninveh will be overthrown,’ 5 when the people of Ninveh believed God. They proclaimed a fast and put on sackcloth, from the greatest of them to the least. 6 When the news reached the king of Ninveh, he got up from his throne, took off his robe, put on sackcloth and sat in ashes. 7 He then had this proclamation made throughout Ninveh: “By decree of the king and his nobles, no person or animal, herd or flock, is to put anything in his mouth; they are neither to eat nor drink water. 8 They must be covered with sackcloth, both people and animals; and they are to cry out to God with all their might — let each of them turn from his evil way and from the violence they practice. 9 Who knows? Maybe God will change his mind, relent and turn from his fierce anger; and then we won’t perish.”
10 When God saw by their deeds that they had turned from their evil way, he relented and did not bring on them the punishment he had threatened.
4 But this was very displeasing to Yonah, and he became angry. 2 He prayed to Adonai, “Now, Adonai, didn’t I say this would happen, when I was still in my own country? That’s why I tried to get away to Tarshish ahead of time! I knew you were a God who is merciful and compassionate, slow to anger and rich in grace, and that you relent from inflicting punishment. 3 Therefore, Adonai, please, just take my life away from me; it’s better for me to be dead than alive!” 4 Adonai asked, “Is it right for you to be so angry?”
5 Yonah left the city and found a place east of the city, where he made himself a shelter and sat down under it, in its shade, to see what would happen to the city. 6 Adonai, God, prepared a castor-bean plant and made it grow up over Yonah to shade his head and relieve his discomfort. So Yonah was delighted with the castor-bean plant. 7 But at dawn the next day God prepared a worm, which attacked the castor-bean plant, so that it dried up. 8 Then, when the sun rose, God prepared a scorching east wind; and the sun beat down on Yonah’s head so hard that he grew faint and begged that he could die, saying, “I would be better off dead than alive.”
9 God asked Yonah, “Is it right for you to be so angry about the castor-bean plant?” He answered, “Yes, it’s right for me to be so angry that I could die!” 10 Adonai said, “You’re concerned over the castor-bean plant, which cost you no effort; you didn’t make it grow; it came up in a night and perished in a night. 11 So shouldn’t I be concerned about the great city of Ninveh, in which there are more than 120,000 people who don’t know their right hand from their left — not to mention all the animals.
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ACTS 15:1 But some men came down from Y’hudah to Antioch and began teaching the brothers, “You can’t be saved unless you undergo b’rit-milah in the manner prescribed by Moshe.” 2 This brought them into no small measure of discord and dispute with Sha’ul and Bar-Nabba. So the congregation assigned Sha’ul, Bar-Nabba and some of themselves to go and put this sh’eilah before the emissaries and the elders up in Yerushalayim.
3 After being sent off by the congregation, they made their way through Phoenicia and Shomron, recounting in detail how the Gentiles had turned to God; and this news brought great joy to all the brothers.
4 On arrival in Yerushalayim, they were welcomed by the Messianic community, including the emissaries and the elders; and they reported what God had done through them. 5 But some of those who had come to trust were from the party of the P’rushim; and they stood up and said, “It is necessary to circumcise them and direct them to observe the Torah of Moshe.”
6 The emissaries and the elders met to look into this matter. 7 After lengthy debate, Kefa got up and said to them, “Brothers, you yourselves know that a good while back, God chose me from among you to be the one by whose mouth the Goyim should hear the message of the Good News and come to trust. 8 And God, who knows the heart, bore them witness by giving the Ruach HaKodesh to them, just as he did to us; 9 that is, he made no distinction between us and them, but cleansed their heart by trust. 10 So why are you putting God to the test now by placing a yoke on the neck of the talmidim which neither our fathers nor we have had the strength to bear? 11 No, it is through the love and kindness of the Lord Yeshua that we trust and are delivered — and it’s the same with them.”
12 Then the whole assembly kept still as they listened to Bar-Nabba and Sha’ul tell what signs and miracles God had done through them among the Gentiles. 13 Ya‘akov broke the silence to reply. “Brothers,” he said, “hear what I have to say. 14 Shim‘on has told in detail what God did when he first began to show his concern for taking from among the Goyim a people to bear his name. 15 And the words of the Prophets are in complete harmony with this for it is written,
16 ‘“After this, I will return;
and I will rebuild the fallen tent of David.
I will rebuild its ruins,
I will restore it,
17 so that the rest of mankind may seek the Lord,
that is, all the Goyim who have been called by my name,”
18 says Adonai, who is doing these things.’Acts 15:18.]
All this has been known for ages.
19 “Therefore, my opinion is that we should not put obstacles in the way of the Goyim who are turning to God. 20 Instead, we should write them a letter telling them to abstain from things polluted by idols, from fornication, from what is strangled and from blood. 21 For from the earliest times, Moshe has had in every city those who proclaim him, with his words being read in the synagogues every Shabbat.”
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Use these devotions in your newsletter and bulletin! Used by permission; all rights reserved by the Int'l LLL (LHM).
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