January 8.

Readings: Gen 15:7-17:27, Ps 6:1-5, Prov 1:20-23, Matt 6:5-24

Genesis
Here we see the beginning of events which would cause Israel a great deal of trouble (& still do). In Ch 15, here God outlines what will actually happen to the nation before it will inherit the land. He refers to the possession & slavery of their time in Egypt.
Then we read how Sarai gave her Egyptian slave Hagar to Abram & he result was that Ishmael was born. Sarai is very harsh in her treatment of Hagar & despite running away God sends her back to the mistreatment. Sometimes, despite what we have to put up with God places us in a location of His chosing & for His purposes. A similar promise is made to her in that He would multiply her offspring. However we have the warning in v12 'he will live at odds with all his brothers'.
I find it interesting that there is no rebuke from God for bearing a child with Hagar, although the history of Israel is that the consequences are everlasting. In ch 17, God re-affirms His promise by changing Abram's name to Abraham. As a sign of that covenant circumcision is introduced (ouch!) This was one way to make the nation holy (set apart) and show that they were special to God.
v17 we read the Abraham laughed - but not in a way which mocked God. This was the laughter of rejoicing as He trusted God to do something which was humanly impossible.

Psalm
Here the psalmist is almost begging God for mercy. Mercy is God's most loving quality but His anger is His most scary. There is a verse which says "what a terrible to fall into the hands of the living God". The psalmist knows that to suffer discipline under God's anger would be terrible. This psalm makes me realise how much we should fear God & want to please Him. We shouldn't live in fear because His grace & mercy come first, but He does deal angrily with those who oppose Him & when we think of the price of our forgiveness we should remember He could justifiable be angry when we treat forgiveness flippantly.

Proverbs
The wise man submits to the Lord's dicipline and those with wisdom stand out in the crowd.

Matthew
The core thing for me in this passage is that prayer is primarily for God's purposes not our own. I think we can all pray for some pretty selfish things at times. "God do this for me etc" Jesus teaches us the things we should pray for always begin with God & His purposes. Prayer allows us to give authority for God to act but the bit we forget is that the promise of answered prayer is when prayed in accordance with His will.
Asking God to give us a promotion might seem a valid prayer, but at what expense - less time to do His will for us & His church? If that is the case, is it valid? The question I then have is, if we get that job which reduces the time we can spend doing things for God, who has given the answer? God's will is always first!
It is not accident then, that Jesus goes on to discuss money. How often are our prayers about money things instead of God things. Eg. is our prayer "how can we set the opressed free in the name of Jesus?"