The Upper Room Daily Reflections: daily words of wisdom and faith in Nashville, Tennessee, United States from Monday, 26 June 2017 through Sunday, 2 July 2017

The Upper Room Daily Reflections: daily words of wisdom and faith in Nashville, Tennessee, United States from Monday, 26 June 2017 through Sunday, 2 July 2017
"God Our Refuge" for Monday, 26, 2017
Today’s Reflection:

GOD, OUR STEADFAST HELPER, you are truly great. In your constant care for us you bend close to hear the whispered cries of our heart and the anguished shouts of oppressed people everywhere. Strengthen your church to be a refuge for the poor and needy, and empower your people to join you in the work of delivering all creation from its ancient groaning. Amen. [ Rueben P. Job, Norman Shawchuck, and John Mogabgab, A Guide to Prayer for All Who Walk with God]
From page 246 of A Guide to Prayer for All Who Walk with God by Rueben P. Job, Norman Shawchuck, and John 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:
Pray today’s prayer. GOD, OUR STEADFAST HELPER, you are truly great. In your constant care for us you bend close to hear the whispered cries of our heart and the anguished shouts of oppressed people everywhere. Strengthen your church to be a refuge for the poor and needy, and empower your people to join you in the work of delivering all creation from its ancient groaning. Amen.
Today’s Scripture:
But the angel of the LORD called to him from heaven, and said, “Abraham, Abraham!” And he said, “Here I am.” [Genesis 22:11, NRSV]
This Week: pray for unconditional love.
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"Responding to God’s Love" for Tuesday, 27 JUNE 2017
Today’s Reflection:
FOR THE CHRISTIAN, spirituality is the way a person responds to God’s love. It is the process of seeking and enjoying a relationship with God the Creator (Father), God the Son (Jesus), and God the Holy Spirit (Spirit of Christ). It involves learning about God; opening to the experience of God’s grace; loving and serving God, other people, and self; understanding and living life through the mind of Christ; and looking forward to being embraced by God in heaven throughout eternity. [Jane Marie Thibault and Richard L. Morgan, No Act of Love Is Ever Wasted]
From page 67 of No Act of Love Is Ever Wasted: The Spirituality of Caring for Persons with Dementia by Jane Marie Thibault and Richard L. Morgan. Copyright © 2009 by Jane Marie Thibault and Richard L. Morgan. All rights reserved. Used by permission of Upper Room Books. http://bookstore.upperroom.org/ Learn more about or purchase this book.
Today’s Question:
How do you define spirituality?
Today’s Scripture:
How long, O LORD? Will you forget me forever? How long will you hide your face from me? [Matthew 13:1, NRSV]
This Week: pray for compassion.
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"A Life Given to God" for Wednesday, 28 JUNE 2017
Today’s Reflection:
INTO THE COMPASSIONATE WOMB of your love, O God,
I bring my deepest needs, my strongest hopes, my greatest fears.
Give me tears for my grief, a voice that I might cry out to you.
Give me words that I might say what is most on my heart.
Give me courage, so that I will always seek the healing you have to give.
Let me always offer my suffering to you,
So that when healing does not come,
Wisdom, justice, and compassion may be its fruit,
A life given to you, Abba God. Amen. [Upper Room Worshipbook: Music and Liturgies for Spiritual Formation]
From “A Prayer of Petition for Healing” by Jerry P. Haas, no. 32, Upper Room Worshipbook: Music and Liturgies for Spiritual Formation Copyright © 2006 Upper Room Books. All rights reserved. Used by permission. http://bookstore.upperroom.org/ Learn more about or purchase this book.
Today’s Question:
Pray today’s prayer. INTO THE COMPASSIONATE WOMB of your love, O God,
I bring my deepest needs, my strongest hopes, my greatest fears.
Give me tears for my grief, a voice that I might cry out to you.
Give me words that I might say what is most on my heart.
Give me courage, so that I will always seek the healing you have to give.
Let me always offer my suffering to you,
So that when healing does not come,
Wisdom, justice, and compassion may be its fruit,
A life given to you, Abba God. Amen.
Today’s Scripture:
But I trusted in your steadfast love; my heart shall rejoice in your salvation. [Psalm 13:5, NRSV]
This Week: pray for compassion.
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"What Is in Your Power to Do?" for Thursday, 29 June 2017
Today’s Reflection:
WHAT IS IN YOUR POWER to do for others? Are you in a position financially to help alleviate suffering? Do you have skills to teach and mentor children or young adults? Are you good with your hands in a way that you can offer practical assistance to people?
Instead of focusing solely on others’ needs, focus on the gifts you have to offer. we can easily convince ourselves that because we can’t give people everything they need, we don’t have anything to offer. But when we start with what we have and vow to use it to serve faithfully, there is no telling what God can do. Here is a truth about you and me: Each of us has the power to make a difference in others’ lives. No matter what we have, God can use us to touch people. [Rob Fuquay, Take the Flag]
From page 50 of Take the Flag: Following God’s Signals in the Race of Your Life by Rob Fuquay. Copyright © 2016 by Rob Fuquay. All rights reserved. Used by permission of Upper Room Books. http://bookstore.upperroom.org/ Learn more about or purchase this book.
Today’s Question:
What gifts do you have to offer?
Today’s Scripture:
For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. [Romans 6:23, NRSV]
This Week: pray for compassion.
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"Thank You, God" for Friday, 30 June 2017
Today’s Reflection:
WHEN I LOOK at all that you have created, God, I want to know you better. I can feel you smiling on me when the sun comes up in the morning and when it sets in the evening. Walking outdoors is a daily reminder of all you have done for me.
When I am feeling tired and weary, the beauty of your creation refreshes my soul.
In the quiet of the outdoors, I hear the gentle whisper that often gets lost in the busyness and noise of everyday life. Thank you, God. [devozine, May-June 2017]
Prayer by Elizabeth Mann, age 23, from page 41 of devozine, the devotional lifestyle magazine for teens, May/June 2017. Copyright © 2017 by The Upper Room. All rights reserved. Used by permission. http://bookstore.upperroom.org/ Learn more about or purchase this book.
Today’s Question:
If possible, spend time outdoors today.
Today’s Scripture:
“Whoever welcomes you welcomes me, and whoever welcomes me welcomes the one who sent me.” [Matthew 10:40, NRSV]
This Week: pray for compassion.
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"In This World Where God Lives" for Saturday, 1 July 2017
Today’s Reflection:
IT IS HARD to keep our eyes open to the things of heaven while attending to the things of earth, and vice versa. How do we sort through these competing claims?
There are days I long to escape the mundane, days I want to flee from dealing with dishes, with laundry, with phone calls, with taxes, with errands, with paperwork, with institutions, with broken systems, with all that tries my patience and wears me out. Yet at the same time I recognize that even at their most maddening, these recurring activities help ground me, keep me from tilting off the planet, root me in this world where God lives. Where God hides. Where God waits for me to look for the holy not beyond my daily life but in the very midst and sometimes mess of it.
BLESSING
May you give your devotion
to the things of heaven.
May you give your attention
to the things of earth.
May they find a place of meeting
in you. [Jan Richardson, In the Sanctuary of Women}
From pages 202-203 of In the Sanctuary of Women: A Companion for Reflection and Prayer by Jan L. Richardson. Copyright © 2010 by Jan L. Richardson. All rights reserved. Used by permission of Upper Room Books. http://bookstore.upperroom.org/ Learn more about or purchase this book.
Today’s Question:
Pray today’s blessing. May you give your devotion
to the things of heaven.
May you give your attention
to the things of earth.
May they find a place of meeting
in you. Amen!
Today’s Scripture:
“Whoever welcomes a prophet in the name of a prophet will receive a prophet’s reward; and whoever welcomes a righteous person in the name of a righteous person will receive the reward of the righteous…” [Matthew 10:41, NRSV]
This Week: pray for compassion. 
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"In the Stillness of God’s Presence" for Sunday, 1 July 2017
Today’s Reflection:
GOD OF WIND and tempest,
God of the still small voice
Help me to quiet my mind
and let go of busy thoughts.
I yearn for stillness in your presence;
I want to sit at your feet like Mary
and listen deeply to your wisdom.
Help me to let go without worry.
Let my heart be ready to host you.
Gracious God, I come to you as I am,
ready to become your listening child. [Finding Your Voice in the Psalms]
From pages 32 of Finding Your Voice in the Psalms: An Invitation to Honest Prayer by Elizabeth J. Canham. Copyright © 2013 by Elizabeth J. Canham. All rights reserved. Used by permission of Upper Room Books. http://bookstore.upperroom.org/ Learn more about or purchase this book.
Today’s Question:
Pray today’s prayer. GOD OF WIND and tempest,
God of the still small voice
Help me to quiet my mind
and let go of busy thoughts.
I yearn for stillness in your presence;
I want to sit at your feet like Mary
and listen deeply to your wisdom.
Help me to let go without worry.
Let my heart be ready to host you.
Gracious God, I come to you as I am,
ready to become your listening child. Amen.
Today’s Scripture:
“…and whoever gives even a cup of cold water to one of these little ones in the name of a disciple — truly I tell you, none of these will lose their reward.” [Matthew 10:41, NRSV]
This Week: pray for compassion.
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Did You Know?
In need of prayer? The Upper Room Living Prayer Center is a 7-day-a-week intercessory prayer ministry staffed by trained volunteers. Call 1-800-251-2468 or visit The Living Prayer Center website.
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This week we remember: Irenaeus (June 28).
Irenaeus
June 28
Irenaeus was lived approximately 130-200. He was bishop of Lyons. 

Growing up in Smyrna under Polycarp, Irenaeus studied in Rome in the school of Justin Martyr (ca. 100 - ca. 165). Sometime after 164 he moved to Lyons, where he was ordained a presbyter.

He narrowly missed martyrdom in 177 when the aged bishop of Lyons, Pothinus, dispatched him to Rome with a letter for Pope Eleutherius (175-89). While he was away, Pothinus and other church leaders in Lyons were arrested and executed. When Irenaeus returned he succeeded Pothinus as bishop.
We know little of Irenaeus's activities as a bishop, but two of his major writings have survived -- Refutation and Overthrow of Knowledge Falsely So-Called (usually referred to as Against Heresies) and Proof of the Apostolic Preaching, a manual for use by someone trying to win inquirers to the Christian faith. ... Irenaeus contended that Jesus lived to age fifty on the basis of John 8:57, passing through every stage of human life. He also laid a base for the Eastern Christian concept of deification with the remark that Jesus became human in order that we might become divine. His statement that all churches must agree with the Church of Rome on account of its greater antiquity or more powerful authority has occasioned much debate among Protestant, Catholic, and Orthodox scholars.
If Irenaeus had taken the Spiritual Types Test, he probably would have been a Sage. We remember Irenaeus on June 28.
[Excerpted with permission from the entry on Irenaeus by E. Glenn Hinson, from The Upper Room Dictionary of Christian Spiritual Formation, edited by Keith Beasley-Topliffe. Copyright © 2003 by Upper Room Books®. All rights reserved.]
"Saint Irenaeus". Licensed under Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons - https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Saint_Irenaeus.jpg#/media/File:Saint_Irenaeus.jpg

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Lectionary Readings

(Courtesy of Vanderbilt Divinity Library)
Fourth Sunday After Pentecost, Year ASunday, 2 July 2017COLOR(S): Green

From Chaos to Community: Rites of Passage
In the times of horrific rites of passage, God has provided, and Goes does provide. That is part of our family legacy.
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REFERENCES:
Genesis 22:1-14
Psalm 13 (UMH 746) or Psalm 86:1-10, 16-17
Romans 6:12-23
Matthew 10:40-42 or Matthew 10:24-39
Scripture Text: 
Genesis 22:1 (vii) After these things, God tested Avraham. He said to him, “Avraham!” and he answered, “Here I am.” 2 He said, “Take your son, your only son, whom you love, Yitz’chak; and go to the land of Moriyah. There you are to offer him as a burnt offering on a mountain that I will point out to you.”

3 Avraham got up early in the morning, saddled his donkey, and took two of his young men with him, together with Yitz’chak his son. He cut the wood for the burnt offering, departed and went toward the place God had told him about. 4 On the third day, Avraham raised his eyes and saw the place in the distance. 5 Avraham said to his young men, “Stay here with the donkey. I and the boy will go there, worship and return to you.” 6 Avraham took the wood for the burnt offering and laid it on Yitz’chak his son. Then he took in his hand the fire and the knife, and they both went on together.

7 Yitz’chak spoke to Avraham his father: “My father?” He answered, “Here I am, my son.” He said, “I see the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for a burnt offering?” 8 Avraham replied, “God will provide himself the lamb for a burnt offering, my son”; and they both went on together.

9 They came to the place God had told him about; and Avraham built the altar there, set the wood in order, bound Yitz’chak his son and laid him on the altar, on the wood. 10 Then Avraham put out his hand and took the knife to kill his son.

11 But the angel of Adonai called to him out of heaven: “Avraham? Avraham!” He answered, “Here I am.” 12 He said, “Don’t lay your hand on the boy! Don’t do anything to him! For now I know that you are a man who fears God, because you have not withheld your son, your only son, from me.” 13 Avraham raised his eyes and looked, and there behind him was a ram caught in the bushes by its horns. Avraham went and took the ram and offered it up as a burnt offering in place of his son. 14 Avraham called the place Adonai Yir’eh [Adonai will see (to it), Adonai provides] — as it is said to this day, “On the mountain Adonai is seen.”

Psalm 13:1 (0) For the leader. A psalm of David:

2 (1) How long, Adonai?

Will you forget me forever?

How long will you hide your face from me?

3 (2) How long must I keep asking myself what to do,

with sorrow in my heart every day?

How long must my enemy dominate me?

4 (3) Look, and answer me, Adonai my God!

Give light to my eyes, or I will sleep the sleep of death.

5 (4) Then my enemy would say, “I was able to beat him”;

and my adversaries would rejoice at my downfall.

6 (5) But I trust in your grace,

my heart rejoices as you bring me to safety.

(6) I will sing to Adonai, because he gives me

even more than I need.

(United Methodist Hymn 746)

"Be still, my soul: the Lord is on thy side" by 

Katharina von Schlegel

, published 1855; Translated by: Jane Borthwick

1. Be still, my soul: the Lord is on thy side.

Bear patiently the cross of grief or pain.

Leave to thy God to order and provide;

In every change, He faithful will remain.

Be still, my soul: thy best, thy heav’nly Friend

Through thorny ways leads to a joyful end.

2. Be still, my soul: thy God doth undertake

To guide the future, as He has the past.

Thy hope, thy confidence let nothing shake;

All now mysterious shall be bright at last.

Be still, my soul: the waves and winds still know

His voice Who ruled them while He dwelt below.

3. Be still, my soul: when dearest friends depart,

And all is darkened in the vale of tears,

Then shalt thou better know His love, His heart,

Who comes to soothe thy sorrow and thy fears.

Be still, my soul: thy Jesus can repay

From His own fullness all He takes away.

4. Be still, my soul: the hour is hast’ning on

When we shall be forever with the Lord.

When disappointment, grief, and fear are gone,

Sorrow forgot, love’s purest joys restored.

Be still, my soul: when change and tears are past

All safe and blessed we shall meet at last.

5. Be still, my soul: begin the song of praise

On earth, believing, to Thy Lord on high;

Acknowledge Him in all thy words and ways,

So shall He view thee with a well-pleased eye.

Be still, my soul: the Sun of life divine

Through passing clouds shall but more brightly shine.
Psalm 86:1 (0) A prayer of David:
(1) Listen, Adonai, and answer me,
for I am poor and needy.
2 Preserve my life, for I am faithful;
save your servant,
who puts his trust in you
because you are my God.
3 Take pity on me, Adonai,
for I cry to you all day.
4 Fill your servant’s heart with joy,
for to you, Adonai, I lift my heart.
5 Adonai, you are kind and forgiving,
full of grace toward all who call on you.
6 Listen, Adonai, to my prayer;
pay attention to my pleading cry.
7 On the day of my trouble I am calling on you,
for you will answer me.
8 There is none like you among the gods, Adonai;
no deeds compare with yours.
9 All the nations you have made
will come and bow before you, Adonai;
they will honor your name.
10 For you are great, and you do wonders;
you alone are God.
16 Turn to me, and show me your favor;
strengthen your servant, save your slave-girl’s son.
17 Give me a sign of your favor,
so that those who hate me
will see it and be ashamed,
because you, Adonai,
have helped and comforted me.

Romans 6:12 Therefore, do not let sin rule in your mortal bodies, so that it makes you obey its desires; 13 and do not offer any part of yourselves to sin as an instrument for wickedness. On the contrary, offer yourselves to God as people alive from the dead, and your various parts to God as instruments for righteousness. 14 For sin will not have authority over you; because you are not under legalism but under grace.

15 Therefore, what conclusion should we reach? “Let’s go on sinning, because we’re not under legalism but under grace”? Heaven forbid! 16 Don’t you know that if you present yourselves to someone as obedient slaves, then, of the one whom you are obeying, you are slaves — whether of sin, which leads to death, or of obedience, which leads to being made righteous? 17 By God’s grace, you, who were once slaves to sin, obeyed from your heart the pattern of teaching to which you were exposed; 18 and after you had been set free from sin, you became enslaved to righteousness. 19 (I am using popular language because your human nature is so weak.) For just as you used to offer your various parts as slaves to impurity and lawlessness, which led to more lawlessness; so now offer your various parts as slaves to righteousness, which leads to being made holy, set apart for God. 20 For when you were slaves of sin, you were free in relationship to righteousness; 21 but what benefit did you derive from the things of which you are now ashamed? The end result of those things was death. 22 However, now, freed from sin and enslaved to God, you do get the benefit — it consists in being made holy, set apart for God, and its end result is eternal life. 23 For what one earns from sin is death; but eternal life is what one receives as a free gift from God, in union with the Messiah Yeshua, our Lord.

Matthew 10:40 “Whoever receives you is receiving me, and whoever receives me is receiving the One who sent me. 41 Anyone who receives a prophet because he is a prophet will receive the reward a prophet gets, and anyone who receives a tzaddik because he is a tzaddik will receive the reward a tzaddik gets. 42 Indeed, if someone gives just a cup of cold water to one of these little ones because he is my talmid — yes! — I tell you, he will certainly not lose his reward!”

Matthew 10:24 “A talmid is not greater than his rabbi, a slave is not greater than his master. 25 It is enough for a talmid that he become like his rabbi, and a slave like his master. Now if people have called the head of the house Ba‘al-Zibbul, how much more will they malign the members of his household! 26 So do not fear them; for there is nothing covered that will not be uncovered, or hidden that will not be known. 27 What I tell you in the dark, speak in the light; what is whispered in your ear, proclaim on the housetops.

28 “Do not fear those who kill the body but are powerless to kill the soul. Rather, fear him who can destroy both soul and body in Gei-Hinnom. 29 Aren’t sparrows sold for next to nothing, two for an assarion? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground without your Father’s consent. 30 As for you, every hair on your head has been counted. 31 So do not be afraid, you are worth more than many sparrows.
32 “Whoever acknowledges me in the presence of others I will also acknowledge in the presence of my Father in heaven. 33 But whoever disowns me before others I will disown before my Father in heaven.
34 “Don’t suppose that I have come to bring peace to the Land. It is not peace I have come to bring, but a sword! 35 For I have come to set
36 a man against his father,
a daughter against her mother,
a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law,
so that a man’s enemies will be the members of his own household.[Matthew 10:36 Micah 7:6]
37 Whoever loves his father or mother more than he loves me is not worthy of me; anyone who loves his son or daughter more than he loves me is not worthy of me. 38 And anyone who does not take up his execution-stake and follow me is not worthy of me. 39 Whoever finds his own life will lose it, but the person who loses his life for my sake will find it.
John Wesley's Notes-Commentary: 

Genesis 22:1-14

Verse 1

[1] And it came to pass after these things, that God did tempt Abraham, and said unto him, Abraham: and he said, Behold, here I am.

Here is the trial of Abraham's faith, whether it continued so strong, so vigorous, so victorious, after a long settlement in communion with God, as it was at first, when by it he left his country: then it appeared that he loved God better than his father; now, that he loved him better than his son.

After these things — After all the other exercises he had had, all the difficulties he had gone through: now perhaps he was beginning to think the storms were blown over but after all, this encounter comes, which is stranger than any yet.

God did tempt Abraham — Not to draw him to sin, so Satan tempts; but to discover his graces, how strong they were, that they might be found to praise and honour and glory. The trial itself: God appeared to him as he had formerly done, called him by name Abraham, that name which had been given him in ratification of the promise: Abraham, like a good servant, readily answered, Here am I; what saith my Lord unto his servant? Probably he expected some renewed promise, like those, Genesis 15:1; 17:1, but to his great amazement that which God hath to say to him is in short, Abraham, go kill thy son: and this command is given him in such aggravating language as makes the temptation abundantly more grievous. When God speaks, Abraham, no doubt, takes notice of every word, and listens attentively to it: and every word here is a sword in his bones; the trial is steel'd with trying phrases. Is it any pleasure to the Almighty that he should afflict? No, it is not; yet when Abraham's faith is to be tried, God seems to take pleasure in the aggravation of the trial.

Verse 2

[2] And he said, Take now thy son, thine only son Isaac, whom thou lovest, and get thee into the land of Moriah; and offer him there for a burnt offering upon one of the mountains which I will tell thee of.

And he said, take thy son — Not thy bullocks and thy lambs; how willingly would Abraham have parted with them by thousands to redeem Isaac! Not thy servant, no, not the steward of thine house.

Thine only son — Thine only son by Sarah. Ishmael was lately cast out, to the grief of Abraham, and now Isaac only was left and must he go too? Yes: take Isaac, him by name, thy laughter, that son indeed. Yea, that son whom thou lovest - The trial was of Abraham's love to God, and therefore it must be in a beloved son: in the Hebrew 'tis expressed more emphatically, and I think might very well be read thus, Take now that son of thine, that only son of thine, whom thou lovest, that Isaac.

And get thee into the land of Moriah — Three days journey off: so that he might have time to consider it, and if he do it, must do it deliberately.

And offer him for a burnt offering — He must not only kill his son, but kill him as a sacrifice, with all that sedateness and composedness of mind, with which he used to offer his burnt-offering.

Verse 3

[3] And Abraham rose up early in the morning, and saddled his ass, and took two of his young men with him, and Isaac his son, and clave the wood for the burnt offering, and rose up, and went unto the place of which God had told him.

The several steps of this obedience, all help to magnify it, and to shew that he was guided by prudence, and governed by faith, in the whole transaction. (1.) He rises early - Probably the command was given in the visions of the night, and early the next morning he sets himself about it, did not delay, did not demur. Those that do the will of God heartily will do it speedily. (2.) He gets things ready for a sacrifice, and it should seem, with his own hands, cleaves the wood for the burnt-offering. (3.) He left his servants at some distance off, left they should have created him some disturbance in his strange oblation. Thus when Christ was entering upon his agony in the garden, he took only three of his disciples with him.

Verse 6

[6] And Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering, and laid it upon Isaac his son; and he took the fire in his hand, and a knife; and they went both of them together.

Isaac's carrying the wood was a type of Christ, who carried his own cross, while Abraham, with a steady and undaunted resolution, carried the fatal knife and fire.

Verse 7

[7] And Isaac spake unto Abraham his father, and said, My father: and he said, Here am I, my son. And he said, Behold the fire and the wood: but where is the lamb for a burnt offering?

Behold the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb? — This is, 1. A trying question to Abraham; how could he endure to think that Isaac is himself the lamb? 2. 'Tis a teaching question to us all, that when we are going to worship God, we should seriously consider whether we have every thing ready, especially the lamb for a burnt-offering. Behold, the fire is ready; that is, the Spirit's assistance, and God's acceptance: the wood is ready, the instituted ordinances designed to kindle our affections, which indeed, without the Spirit, are but like wood without fire, but the Spirit works by them. All things are now ready, but where is the lamb? Where is the heart? Is that ready to be offered up to God, to ascend to him as a burnt-offering?

Verse 8

[8] And Abraham said, My son, God will provide himself a lamb for a burnt offering: so they went both of them together.

My son, God will provide himself a lamb — This was the language either, 1. Of his obedience; we must offer the lamb which God has appointed now to be offered; thus giving him this general rule of submission to the divine will to prepare him for the application of it to himself. Or, 2. Of his faith; whether he meant it so or no, this proved to be the meaning of it; a sacrifice was provided instead of Isaac. Thus, 1. Christ the great sacrifice of atonement was of God's providing: when none in heaven or earth could have found a lamb for that burnt-offering, God himself found the ransom. 2. All our sacrifices of acknowledgement are of God's providing too; 'tis he that prepares the heart. The broken and contrite spirit is a sacrifice of God, of his providing.

Verse 9

[9] And they came to the place which God had told him of; and Abraham built an altar there, and laid the wood in order, and bound Isaac his son, and laid him on the altar upon the wood.

With the same resolution and composedness of mind, he applies himself to the compleating of this sacrifice. After many a weary step, and with a heavy heart, he arrives at length at the fatal place; builds the altar, an altar of earth, we may suppose, the saddest that ever be built; lays the wood in order for Isaac's funeral pile; and now tells him the amazing news. Isaac, for ought appears, is as willing as Abraham; we do not find that he made any objection against it. God commands it to be done, and Isaac has learned to submit. Yet it is necessary that a sacrifice be bound; the great Sacrifice, which, in the fulness of time, was to be offered up, must be bound, and therefore so must Isaac. Having bound him he lays him upon the altar, and his hand upon the head of the sacrifice. Be astonished, O heavens, at this, and wonder, O earth! here is an act of faith and obedience which deserves to be a spectacle to God, angels and men; Abraham's darling, the church's hope, the heir of promise, lies ready to bleed and die by his own father's hands! Now this obedience of Abraham in offering up Isaac is a lively representation, 1. Of the love of God to us, in delivering up his only begotten Son to suffer and die for us, as a sacrifice. Abraham was obliged both in duty and gratitude to part with Isaac and parted with him to a friend, but God was under no obligations to us, for we were enemies. 2. Of our duty to God in return of that love we must tread in the steps of this faith of Abraham. God, by his word, calls us to part with all for Christ, all our sins, tho' they have been as a right hand, or a right eye, or an Isaac; all those things that are rivals with Christ for the sovereignity of our heart; and we must chearfully let them all go. God, by his providence, which is truly the voice of God, calls us to part with an Isaac sometimes, and we must do it by a chearful resignation and submission to his holy will.

Verse 11

[11] And the angel of the LORD called unto him out of heaven, and said, Abraham, Abraham: and he said, Here am I.

The Angel of the Lord — That is, God himself, the eternal Word, the Angel of the covenant, who was to be the great Redeemer and Comforter.

Verse 12

[12] And he said, Lay not thine hand upon the lad, neither do thou any thing unto him: for now I know that thou fearest God, seeing thou hast not withheld thy son, thine only son from me.

Lay not thine hand upon the lad — God's time to help his people is, when they are brought to the greatest extremity: the more eminent the danger is, and the nearer to be put in execution, the more wonderful and the more welcome is the deliverance.

Now know I that thou fearest God — God knew it before, but now Abraham had given a memorable evidence of it. He need do no more, what he had done was sufficient to prove the religious regard he had to God and his authority. The best evidence of our fearing God is our being willing to honour him with that which is dearest to us, and to part with all to him, or for him.

Verse 13

[13] And Abraham lifted up his eyes, and looked, and behold behind him a ram caught in a thicket by his horns: and Abraham went and took the ram, and offered him up for a burnt offering in the stead of his son.

Behold a ram — Tho' that blessed Seed was now typified by Isaac, yet the offering of him up was suspended 'till the latter end of the world, and in the mean time the sacrifice of beasts was accepted, as a pledge of that expiation which should be made by that great sacrifice. And it is observable, that the temple, the place of sacrifice, was afterward built upon this mount Moriah, 2 Chronicles 3:1, and mount Calvary, where Christ was crucified, was not far off.

Verse 14

[14] And Abraham called the name of that place Jehovahjireh: as it is said to this day, In the mount of the LORD it shall be seen.

And Abraham called the place Jehovah-jireh — The Lord will provide. Probably alluding to what he had said, Genesis 22:8.

God will provide himself a lamb — This was purely the Lord's doing: let it be recorded for the generations to come; that the Lord will see; he will always have his eyes upon his people in their straits, that he may come in with seasonable succour in the critical juncture. And that he will be seen, be seen in the mount, in the greatest perplexities of his people; he will not only manifest but magnify his wisdom, power and goodness in their deliverance. Where God sees and provides, he should be seen and praised. And perhaps it may refer to God manifest in the flesh.

Psalm 13

Verse 2

[2] How long shall I take counsel in my soul, having sorrow in my heart daily? how long shall mine enemy be exalted over me?

How long — Shall I be in such perplexities, not knowing what course to take?

Verse 3

[3] Consider and hear me, O LORD my God: lighten mine eyes, lest I sleep the sleep of death;

Lighten — Revive and comfort, and deliver me from the darkness of death, which is ready to come upon me.

Verse 6

[6] I will sing unto the LORD, because he hath dealt bountifully with me.

I will sing — It is a common thing for David and other prophets to speak of future deliverances as if they were already come, that so they may signify both the infallible certainty of the thing, and their firm assurance thereof.

Psalm 86:1-10, 16-17

Verse 2
[2] Preserve my soul; for I am holy: O thou my God, save thy servant that trusteth in thee.
Holy — Sincerely devoted to thy service.

Romans 6:12-23

Verse 12

[12] Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof.

Let not sin reign even in your mortal body — It must be subject to death, but it need not be subject to sin.

Verse 13

[13] Neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin: but yield yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God.

Neither present your members to sin — To corrupt nature, a mere tyrant.

But to God — Your lawful King.

Verse 14

[14] For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace.

Sin shall not have dominion over you — It has neither right nor power.

For ye are not under the law — A dispensation of terror and bondage, which only shows sin, without enabling you to conquer it.

But under grace — Under the merciful dispensation of the gospel, which brings complete victory over it to every one who is under the powerful influences of the Spirit of Christ.

Verse 17

[17] But God be thanked, that ye were the servants of sin, but ye have obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine which was delivered you.

The form of doctrine into which ye have been delivered — Literally it is, The mould into which ye have been delivered; which, as it contains a beautiful allusion, conveys also a very instructive admonition; intimating that our minds, all pliant and ductile, should be conformed to the gospel precepts, as liquid metal, take the figure of the mould into which they are cast.

Verse 18

[18] Being then made free from sin, ye became the servants of righteousness.

Being then set free from sin — We may see the apostles method thus far at one view: - Chap. Ver. 1. Bondage to sin Romans 3:9 2. The knowledge of sin by the law; a sense of God's wrath; inward death Romans 3:20 3. The revelation of the righteousness of God in Christ through the gospel Romans 3:21 4. The centre of all, faith, embracing that righteousness Romans 3:22 5. Justification, whereby God forgives all past sin, and freely accepts the sinner Romans 3:24 6. The gift of the Holy Ghost; a sense of Romans 5:5, God's love new inward life Romans 6:4 7. The free service of righteousness Romans 6:12

Verse 19

[19] I speak after the manner of men because of the infirmity of your flesh: for as ye have yielded your members servants to uncleanness and to iniquity unto iniquity; even so now yield your members servants to righteousness unto holiness.

I speak after the manner of men — Thus it is necessary that the scripture should let itself down to the language of men.

Because of the weakness of your flesh — Slowness of understanding flows from the weakness of the flesh, that is, of human nature.

As ye have presented your members servants to uncleanness and iniquity unto iniquity, so now present your members servants of righteousness unto holiness — Iniquity (whereof uncleanness is an eminent part) is here opposed to righteousness; and unto iniquity is the opposite of unto holiness. Righteousness here is a conformity to the divine will; holiness, to the whole divine nature. Observe, they who are servants of righteousness go on to holiness; but they who are servants to iniquity get no farther. Righteousness is service, because we live according to the will of another; but liberty, because of our inclination to it, and delight in it.

Verse 20

[20] For when ye were the servants of sin, ye were free from righteousness.

When ye were the servants of sin, ye were free from righteousness — In all reason, therefore, ye ought now to be free from unrighteousness; to be as uniform and zealous in serving God as ye were in serving the devil.

Verse 21

[21] What fruit had ye then in those things whereof ye are now ashamed? for the end of those things is death.

Those things — He speaks of them as afar off.

Verse 23

[23] For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Death — Temporal, spiritual, and eternal.

Is the due wages of sin; but eternal life is the gift of God — The difference is remarkable. Evil works merit the reward they receive: good works do not. The former demand wages: the latter accept a free gift.

Matthew 10:40-42

Verse 40

[40] He that receiveth you receiveth me, and he that receiveth me receiveth him that sent me.

Matthew 18:5; Luke 10:16; John 13:20.

Verse 41

[41] He that receiveth a prophet in the name of a prophet shall receive a prophet's reward; and he that receiveth a righteous man in the name of a righteous man shall receive a righteous man's reward.

He that entertaineth a prophet — That is, a preacher of the Gospel: In the name of a prophet - That is, because he is such, shall share in his reward.

Verse 42

[42] And whosoever shall give to drink unto one of these little ones a cup of cold water only in the name of a disciple, verily I say unto you, he shall in no wise lose his reward.

One of these little ones — The very least Christian. Mark 9:41.

Matthew 10:24-39

Verse 24

[24] For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall shew great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect.

They would deceive, if possible, the very elect — But it is not possible that God should suffer the body of Christians to be thus deceived.

Verse 27

[27] For as the lightning cometh out of the east, and shineth even unto the west; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.

For as the lightning goeth forth — For the next coming of Christ will he as quick as lightning; so that there will not be time for any such previous warning.

Verse 28

[28] For wheresoever the carcase is, there will the eagles be gathered together.

For wheresoever the carcass is, there will the eagles he gathered together — Our Lord gives this, as a farther reason, why they should not hearken to any pretended deliverer. As if he had said, Expect not any deliverer of the Jewish nation; for it is devoted to destruction. It is already before God a dead carcass, which the Roman eagles will soon devour. Luke 17:37.

Verse 29

[29] Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken:

Immediately after the tribulation of those days — Here our Lord begins to speak of his last coming. But he speaks not so much in the language of man as of God, with whom a thousand years are as one day, one moment. Many of the primitive Christians not observing this, thought he would come immediately, in the common sense of the word: a mistake which St. Paul labours to remove, in his Second Epistle to the Thessalonians.

The powers of the heavens — Probably the influences of the heavenly bodies. Mark 13:24; Luke 21:25.

Verse 30

[30] And then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven: and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.

Then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven — It seems a little before he himself descends. The sun, moon, and stars being extinguished, (probably not those of our system only,) the sign of the Son of man (perhaps the cross) will appear in the glory of the Lord.

Verse 31

[31] And he shall send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.

They shall gather together his elect — That is, all that have endured to the end in the faith which worketh by love.

Verse 32

[32] Now learn a parable of the fig tree; When his branch is yet tender, and putteth forth leaves, ye know that summer is nigh:

Learn a parable — Our Lord having spoke of the signs preceding the two grand events, concerning which the apostles had inquired, begins here to speak of the time of them. And to the question proposed, Matthew 24:3, concerning the time of the destruction of Jerusalem, he answers Matthew 24:34. Concerning the time of the end of the world, he answers Matthew 24:36. Mark 13:28; Luke 21:29.

Verse 34

[34] Verily I say unto you, This generation shall not pass, till all these things be fulfilled.

This generation of men now living shall not pass till all these things be done - The expression implies, that great part of that generation would be passed away, but not the whole. Just so it was. For the city and temple were destroyed thirty-nine or forty years after.

Verse 36

[36] But of that day and hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels of heaven, but my Father only.

But of that day — The day of judgment; Knoweth no man - Not while our Lord was on earth. Yet it might be afterward revealed to St. John consistently with this.

Verse 37

[37] But as the days of Noe were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.

Luke 17:26.

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