Lent Readings: Tuesday 13 March

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LEAVING CONTROL FOR FAITH...

Psalm 78:1-39 TNIV

A maskil ^[a] of Asaph.

¹ My people, hear my teaching;
listen to the words of my mouth.

² I will open my mouth with a parable;
I will teach you lessons from the past—

³ things we have heard and known,
things our ancestors have told us.

⁴ We will not hide them from their descendants;
we will tell the next generation
the praiseworthy deeds of the LORD,
his power, and the wonders he has done.

⁵ He decreed statutes for Jacob
and established the law in Israel,
which he commanded our ancestors
to teach their children,

⁶ so the next generation would know them,
even the children yet to be born,
and they in turn would tell their children.

⁷ Then they would put their trust in God
and would not forget his deeds
but would keep his commands.

⁸ They would not be like their ancestors—
a stubborn and rebellious generation,
whose hearts were not loyal to God,
whose spirits were not faithful to him.

⁹ The men of Ephraim, though armed with bows,
turned back on the day of battle;

¹⁰ they did not keep God's covenant
and refused to live by his law.

¹¹ They forgot what he had done,
the wonders he had shown them.

¹² He did miracles in the sight of their ancestors
in the land of Egypt, in the region of Zoan.

¹³ He divided the sea and led them through;
he made the water stand up like a wall.

¹⁴ He guided them with the cloud by day
and with light from the fire all night.

¹⁵ He split the rocks in the wilderness
and gave them water as abundant as the seas;

¹⁶ he brought streams out of a rocky crag
and made water flow down like rivers.

¹⁷ But they continued to sin against him,
rebelling in the wilderness against the Most High.

¹⁸ They willfully put God to the test
by demanding the food they craved.

¹⁹ They spoke against God;
they said, "Can God really
spread a table in the wilderness?

²⁰ True, he struck the rock,
and water gushed out,
streams flowed abundantly,
but can he also give us bread?
Can he supply meat for his people?"

²¹ When the LORD heard them, he was furious;
his fire broke out against Jacob,
and his wrath rose against Israel,

²² for they did not believe in God
or trust in his deliverance.

²³ Yet he gave a command to the skies above
and opened the doors of the heavens;

²⁴ he rained down manna for the people to eat,
he gave them the grain of heaven.

²⁵ Human beings ate the bread of angels;
he sent them all the food they could eat.

²⁶ He let loose the east wind from the heavens
and by his power made the south wind blow.

²⁷ He rained meat down on them like dust,
birds like sand on the seashore.

²⁸ He made them come down inside their camp,
all around their tents.

²⁹ They ate till they were gorged—
he had given them what they craved.

³⁰ But before they turned from what they craved,
even while the food was still in their mouths,

³¹ God's anger rose against them;
he put to death the sturdiest among them,
cutting down the young men of Israel.

³² In spite of all this, they kept on sinning;
in spite of his wonders, they did not believe.

³³ So he ended their days in futility
and their years in terror.

³⁴ Whenever God slew them, they would seek him;
they eagerly turned to him again.

³⁵ They remembered that God was their Rock,
that God Most High was their Redeemer.

³⁶ But then they would flatter him with their mouths,
lying to him with their tongues;

³⁷ their hearts were not loyal to him,
they were not faithful to his covenant.

³⁸ Yet he was merciful;
he forgave their iniquities
and did not destroy them.
Time after time he restrained his anger
and did not stir up his full wrath.

³⁹ He remembered that they were but flesh,
a passing breeze that does not return.

Jeremiah 7:21-34 TNIV

²¹ " 'This is what the LORD Almighty, the God of Israel, says: Go ahead, add your burnt offerings to your other sacrifices and eat the meat yourselves! ²² For when I brought your ancestors out of Egypt and spoke to them, I did not just give them commands about burnt offerings and sacrifices, ²³ but I gave them this command: Obey me, and I will be your God and you will be my people. Walk in obedience to all I command you, that it may go well with you. ²⁴ But they did not listen or pay attention; instead, they followed the stubborn inclinations of their evil hearts. They went backward and not forward. ²⁵ From the time your ancestors left Egypt until now, day after day, again and again I sent you my servants the prophets. ²⁶ But they did not listen to me or pay attention. They were stiff-necked and did more evil than their ancestors.'

²⁷ "When you tell them all this, they will not listen to you; when you call to them, they will not answer. ²⁸ Therefore say to them, 'This is the nation that has not obeyed the LORD its God or responded to correction. Truth has perished; it has vanished from their lips.

²⁹ " 'Cut off your hair and throw it away; take up a lament on the barren heights, for the LORD has rejected and abandoned this generation that is under his wrath.

The Valley of Slaughter

³⁰ " 'The people of Judah have done evil in my eyes, declares the LORD. They have set up their detestable idols in the house that bears my Name and have defiled it. ³¹ They have built the high places of Topheth in the Valley of Ben Hinnom to burn their sons and daughters in the fire—something I did not command, nor did it enter my mind. ³² So beware, the days are coming, declares the LORD, when people will no longer call it Topheth or the Valley of Ben Hinnom, but the Valley of Slaughter, for they will bury the dead in Topheth until there is no more room. ³³ Then the carcasses of this people will become food for the birds and the wild animals, and there will be no one to frighten them away. ³⁴ I will bring an end to the sounds of joy and gladness and to the voices of bride and bridegroom in the towns of Judah and the streets of Jerusalem, for the land will become desolate.

Romans 4:13-25 TNIV

¹³ It was not through the law that Abraham and his offspring received the promise that he would be heir of the world, but through the righteousness that comes by faith. ¹⁴ For if those who depend on the law are heirs, faith means nothing and the promise is worthless, ¹⁵ because the law brings wrath. And where there is no law there is no transgression.

¹⁶ Therefore, the promise comes by faith, so that it may be by grace and may be guaranteed to all Abraham's offspring—not only to those who are of the law but also to those who have the faith of Abraham. He is the father of us all. ¹⁷ As it is written: "I have made you a father of many nations." ^[a] He is our father in the sight of God, in whom he believed—the God who gives life to the dead and calls into being things that were not.

¹⁸ Against all hope, Abraham in hope believed and so became the father of many nations, just as it had been said to him, "So shall your offspring be." ^{[b] 19} Without weakening in his faith, he faced the fact that his body was as good as dead—since he was about a hundred years old—and that Sarah's womb was also dead. ²⁰ Yet he did not waver through unbelief regarding the promise of God, but was strengthened in his faith and gave glory to God, ²¹ being fully persuaded that God had power to do what he had promised. ²² This is why "it was credited to him as righteousness." ²³ The words "it was credited to him" were written not for him alone, ²⁴ but also for us, to whom God will credit righteousness—for us who believe in him who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead. ²⁵ He was delivered over to death for our sins and was raised to life for our justification.

John 7:37-52 TNIV

³⁷ On the last and greatest day of the Festival, Jesus stood and said in a loud voice, "Let anyone who is thirsty come to me and drink. ³⁸ Whoever believes in me, as Scripture has said, rivers of living water will flow from within them." ^{[a] 39} By this he meant the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were later to receive. Up to that time the Spirit had not been given, since Jesus had not yet been glorified.

⁴⁰ On hearing his words, some of the people said, "Surely this man is the Prophet."

⁴¹ Others said, "He is the Messiah."

Still others asked, "How can the Messiah come from Galilee? ⁴² Does not Scripture say that the Messiah will come from David's descendants and from Bethlehem, the town where David lived?" ⁴³ Thus the people were divided because of Jesus. ⁴⁴ Some wanted to seize him, but no one laid a hand on him.

Unbelief of the Jewish Leaders

⁴⁵ Finally the temple guards went back to the chief priests and the Pharisees, who asked them, "Why didn't you bring him in?"

⁴⁶ "No one ever spoke the way this man does," the guards replied.

⁴⁷ "You mean he has deceived you also?" the Pharisees retorted. ⁴⁸ "Have any of the rulers or of the Pharisees believed in him? ⁴⁹ No! But this mob that knows nothing of the law—there is a curse on them."

⁵⁰ Nicodemus, who had gone to Jesus earlier and who was one of their own number, asked, ⁵¹ "Does our law condemn a man without first hearing him to find out what he has been doing?"

⁵² They replied, "Are you from Galilee, too? Look into it, and you will find that a prophet does not come out of Galilee."