Tuesday, February 14, 2023

 

Tuesday, February 14, 2023


Psalms 108; 109:29-30

Genesis 27:30-46

Luke 6:12-26


Observance: Cyril (d. 869) and Methodius, bishop (d. 885) missionaries to the Slavs


Now during those days Jesus went out to the mountain to pray; and He spent the night in prayer to God.


Do you believe prayer works? Do you believe blessings are effective? Jacob, Esau, Isaac and Rebekah certainly did. They were desperate for God’s blessings to be made manifest. Their understanding of how it all worked was perhaps less mature.


Jacob had already been given the blessing, and not from Isaac, but from the LORD God Himself. (Gen 25:23) Jacob’s future as the inheritor of the promise was never in doubt, and there was nothing Jacob could have done, as when he swapped a meal for Esau’s birthright, or Rebekah, when she cooked up this ridiculous plan to deceive Isaac.


Jesus gives us a list of blessings in our gospel reading this morning. He does not put any obligations or requirements on those who would receive those blessings, apart from the fact that the hopeful recipient devote their life in service to God. Jesus teaches to us both who we receive blessings from, and how we attain them.


We go directly to God to receive the good things we ask for. There may be intermediaries, as God chooses, who deliver those blessings to us. But it all ultimately comes from God.


And the blessings aren’t received as a transaction, either. We don’t get the lollipop for being a good boy or girl. In an honest and loving relationship, such as that between the Christian and their God, blessings naturally flow out, almost, dare we say, as a matter of course.


So don’t waste your time trying to manoeuvre the world into a place where it works for you. Go directly to the source. Follow Jesus up into the mountain to pray, and spend the night in prayer. The constant presence of God builds up such joy in our hearts that every morning we want to wake up early, brimming with excitement for what the next day might have in store for us. “Awake, O harp and lyre! I will awake the dawn.”



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