Devotion
I know that you fear me
David Jacobs
This story is probably familiar to most Christians: Abraham takes his son, Isaac, up the mountain because God asks that he make a sacrifice. God asks Abraham to sacrifice Isaac. Abraham builds an altar, ties up his son, raises the knife to kill Isaac, but is stopped at the last second by an angel. After this episode, God knows that he can trust Abraham completely, and their covenant is strengthened further.
As I previously stated, the actual events in these verses is hotly debated amongst Biblical scholars. In the oldest variations of the text, Abraham seemingly does kill Isaac. In those versions, Isaac is not mentioned again. In other versions, Abraham is stopped. This story fascinated me and sparked my interest in understanding who wrote the Bible.
Whether or not Abraham killed Isaac is something we will never know. However, without these verses, I never would have dove so deeply into Biblical literature. This verse changed my life and was the first time I learned about the "J, E, P, and D" texts (I suggest all Christians research this on their own time). It opened my eyes to a new understanding of the Bible: who actually wrote it, why it was written, and explains much of the political and cultural references that I was unaware of previously.
Prayer
Who were the authors of the Bible? If you are anything like I was, you assume that it was the actual word of God. The Old Testament was written by humans. Learning about the writers and translations of the Bible opened a door to a world previously unknown to me and only deepened my fascination and love of the Bible even more.
Night Prayer
Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye make clean the outside of the cup and of the platter, but within they are full of extortion and excess.
Inspiration
We despise the thought of a pile of dirty dishes in the sink. The outside is easy to clean; it's the caked-up residue on the inside that's so difficult to remove. Jesus compares the scribes and Pharisees with dishes that have been wiped clean on the outside while dirty inside. The Pharisees took exceptional care of their outward appearance and neglected their inward spirits. We are guilty of allowing our hearts to be left filthy as well. We look and act as we should while our souls are full of darkness. We must continue to converse with the Holy Spirit daily and trust His guidance to cleanse our sinful nature.
Prayer
Dear God, Please forgive our sinful nature. We yearn for cleansing from within, so we are genuine witnesses to Your name. In Jesus' Name, Amen.
