The Heat Of The Day (Genesis 18:1)


 

Saturday, February 1, 2025


Psalm 74

Genesis 18:1-22

Luke 1:67-80


The Heat Of The Day (Genesis 18:1)


Every time summer rolls around I find myself amazed at the fact that we manage to get anything done for these three months of the year. And while I’m sure there are some minor differences between our sub-tropical summer and Abraham’s Middle Eastern summer, he still had the right idea by resting under a tree in front of his tent during the heat of the day.


Yet for all the comfort he managed to find in what I am sure would have been a regular daily routine of cooling off, he immediately jumped up and ran from the tent door to meet these three men who he calls “O Lord”.


We know that hospitality to strangers was an extremely important part of the culture of the day. Abraham was doing his expected duty by jumping up to look after them. But he also seems to understand that he is speaking with God, and there is an even greater duty to jump up and serve God whenever he asks.


Serving God when we don’t want to can be even more difficult than working during the summer. Who can be bothered washing the dishes when the humidity is steaming and all you want to do is find a shady spot and a breeze? And who can do the hard work of the kingdom when the heat of the enemy is pushing back so hard? Yet work we must – because now is the time of the harvest of souls, and our Master is out meeting people everywhere we look.


What is God calling you to do right now? How much of an effort do you feel like you have to make to fulfil your calling? How can Jesus supply the grace you need?


O Lord, if we have found favour in your sight, do not pass by your servant. Give us grace to serve you with joy, so that all barriers to your kingdom may fall before you glory.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Monday, July 25, 2022

  Monday, July 25, 2022 Psalm 62; 63 Hosea 1 Romans 4:1-12 He only is my rock and my salvation: my strong tower, so that I shall not be moved. The prophecies of Hosea are rich with vivid imagery. Look at these names: firstly, “Hosea” means “salvation”. So too do the names Joshua and Jesus. Then Hosea has three children: “God scatters”, “Not pitied”, and “Not my people”. This is because the children are part of the marriage between Hosea and Gomer, which is an image God is showing to the nation. It is to our profit that God has used real-life events to communicate spiritual imagery and divine truths. We find it very easy to understand our relationship with God as being a faithful wife to a loving husband. We can reconcile this message with what Paul has to teach us today in Romans. He makes the very important observation that Abraham was given God's righteousness as a result of his faith before, not after, his circumcision. Again, this is God using real-life events...
Read more

Reliable Witnesses (Isaiah 8:2)

Image
  Tuesday, December 10, 2024 Psalms 76; 82 Isaiah 7:18-8:4 Mark 7:1-23 Reliable Witnesses (Isaiah 8:2) A virtue that I am sure everyone will agree with is to speak the truth. No-one likes a liar, and they are soon found out, and when they are, great is the collapse. Today, Isaiah is making sure that everyone understands that his prophecies do indeed come from God. And so, he collects a couple of reliable witnesses so that when what he prophecies comes to pass, everyone will know he was speaking the truth. We have a more insidious attempt at lying floating around us today in matters of religion and spirituality. It concerns the truth of God: of who he is, and what he likes. For those of us who read our Bibles and pray to Holy Spirit to reveal its meaning to us, we gain an understanding of God. Of course, God is infinite, and we will spend not only this life, but our eternal life always learning more and more about God. But still, God wants to make himself kno...
Read more

But You, Take Courage! (2 Chronicles 15:7)

Image
  Saturday, June 29, 2024 Psalm 145 2 Chronicles 15 James 5 Observance: Peter and Paul, apostles and martyrs But You, Take Courage! (2 Chronicles 15:7) Let’s take a quick moment to remember what the overall intention of the books of Chronicles are. They were written at a time when the Jews were really battered and hard done by; when the exiles were returning from Babylon and rebuilding the city of Jerusalem and the temple. When they needed a bit of encouragement from their history to remind them of the big picture. It can feel like the words of the prophets are always about doom and gloom. The three big ones, Isaiah, Jeremiah and Ezekiel, certainly have a lot of hard words to read. But here in Chronicles we have the words of God through the prophet Azariah, and they are very encouraging. He tells us that the Lord is with us when we are with him. If we seek him, he will be found by us. St James tells us to take courage from the example of the pr...
Read more