Exodus 18, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals

Max Lucado Daily: Caretakers of God’s Covenant - October 11, 2021

God gave this promise to Abraham: “I will bless those who bless you, and I will place a curse on those who harm you. And all the people on earth will be blessed through you” (Genesis 12:3 NCV). When God called Abraham out of Ur, he made a covenant—a promise—that Abraham would be the father of a holy nation.

Exactly how would God bless the world through Israel? First, they would model a way of living that reflected the glory and goodness of God. And secondly, they would provide a lineage through whom Jesus Christ, the greatest global blessing, would be born. They were the curators and caretakers of God’s covenant to Abraham. For this reason they were to remain separate. Different. Holy. Set apart. And so are we. The assignment given to the Jews has been passed on to us.

Exodus 18

Jethro, priest of Midian and father-in-law to Moses, heard the report of all that God had done for Moses and Israel his people, the news that God had delivered Israel from Egypt. Jethro, Moses’ father-in-law, had taken in Zipporah, Moses’ wife who had been sent back home, and her two sons. The name of the one was Gershom (Sojourner) for he had said, “I’m a sojourner in a foreign land”; the name of the other was Eliezer (God’s-Help) because “The God of my father is my help and saved me from death by Pharaoh.”

5-6 Jethro, Moses’ father-in-law, brought Moses his sons and his wife there in the wilderness where he was camped at the mountain of God. He had sent a message ahead to Moses: “I, your father-in-law, am coming to you with your wife and two sons.”

7-8 Moses went out to welcome his father-in-law. He bowed to him and kissed him. Each asked the other how things had been with him. Then they went into the tent. Moses told his father-in-law the story of all that God had done to Pharaoh and Egypt in helping Israel, all the trouble they had experienced on the journey, and how God had delivered them.

9-11 Jethro was delighted in all the good that God had done for Israel in delivering them from Egyptian oppression. Jethro said, “Blessed be God who has delivered you from the power of Egypt and Pharaoh, who has delivered his people from the oppression of Egypt. Now I know that God is greater than all gods because he’s done this to all those who treated Israel arrogantly.”

12 Jethro, Moses’ father-in-law, brought a Whole-Burnt-Offering and sacrifices to God. And Aaron, along with all the elders of Israel, came and ate the meal with Moses’ father-in-law in the presence of God.

13-14 The next day Moses took his place to judge the people. People were standing before him all day long, from morning to night. When Moses’ father-in-law saw all that he was doing for the people, he said, “What’s going on here? Why are you doing all this, and all by yourself, letting everybody line up before you from morning to night?”

15-16 Moses said to his father-in-law, “Because the people come to me with questions about God. When something comes up, they come to me. I judge between a man and his neighbor and teach them God’s laws and instructions.”

17-23 Moses’ father-in-law said, “This is no way to go about it. You’ll burn out, and the people right along with you. This is way too much for you—you can’t do this alone. Now listen to me. Let me tell you how to do this so that God will be in this with you. Be there for the people before God, but let the matters of concern be presented to God. Your job is to teach them the rules and instructions, to show them how to live, what to do. And then you need to keep a sharp eye out for competent men—men who fear God, men of integrity, men who are incorruptible—and appoint them as leaders over groups organized by the thousand, by the hundred, by fifty, and by ten. They’ll be responsible for the everyday work of judging among the people. They’ll bring the hard cases to you, but in the routine cases they’ll be the judges. They will share your load and that will make it easier for you. If you handle the work this way, you’ll have the strength to carry out whatever God commands you, and the people in their settings will flourish also.”

24-27 Moses listened to the counsel of his father-in-law and did everything he said. Moses picked competent men from all Israel and set them as leaders over the people who were organized by the thousand, by the hundred, by fifty, and by ten. They took over the everyday work of judging among the people. They brought the hard cases to Moses, but in the routine cases they were the judges. Then Moses said good-bye to his father-in-law who went home to his own country.

Our Daily Bread reading and devotion    
Monday, October 11, 2021

Today's Scripture
2 Samuel 9:6–13
(NIV)

When Mephibosheth son of Jonathan, the son of Saul, came to David, he bowed down to pay him honor.l

David said, “Mephibosheth!”

“At your service,” he replied.

7 “Don’t be afraid,” David said to him, “for I will surely show you kindness for the sake of your father Jonathan.m I will restore to you all the land that belonged to your grandfather Saul, and you will always eat at my table.n”

8 Mephiboshetho bowed down and said, “What is your servant, that you should notice a dead dogp like me?”

9 Then the king summoned Ziba, Saul’s steward, and said to him, “I have given your master’s grandson everything that belonged to Saul and his family. 10 You and your sons and your servants are to farm the land for him and bring in the crops, so that your master’s grandsonq may be provided for. And Mephibosheth, grandson of your master, will always eat at my table.” (Now Ziba had fifteen sons and twenty servants.)

11 Then Ziba said to the king, “Your servant will do whatever my lord the king commands his servant to do.” So Mephibosheth ate at David’sa table like one of the king’s sons.r

12 Mephibosheth had a young son named Mika, and all the members of Ziba’s household were servants of Mephibosheth.s 13 And Mephibosheth lived in Jerusalem, because he always ate at the king’s table; he was lame in both feet.

Insight

David made a covenant with his best friend Jonathan (1 Samuel 20:12–17) that even after Jonathan’s death, David would treat his family with covenantal love and unfailing kindness (Hebrew hesed, v. 14). Second Samuel 9:6–13 records how David, having become king, now fulfills that promise to Jonathan. As the heir to Saul’s throne, Mephibosheth, Jonathan’s son and Saul’s grandson, ought to have been killed under the new regime. Instead, David gave Mephibosheth all of Saul’s land and wealth and appointed servants to look after him. He even honored him as if he were a prince—one of David’s own sons. By: K. T. Sim

At the King’s Table

So Mephibosheth ate at David’s table like one of the king’s sons.
2 Samuel 9:11

“He’ll live,” the vet announced, “but his leg will have to be amputated.” The stray mongrel my friend had brought in had been run over by a car. “Are you the owner?” There would be a hefty surgery bill, and the puppy would need care as it recovered. “I am now,” my friend replied. Her kindness has given that dog a future in a loving home.

Mephibosheth saw himself as a “dead dog,” unworthy of favor (2 Samuel 9:8). Being lame in both feet due to an accident, he was dependent on others to protect and provide for him (see 4:4). Furthermore, after the death of his grandfather, King Saul, he probably feared that David, the new king, would order all enemies and rivals to the throne killed, as was the common practice of the time.

Yet, out of love for his friend Jonathan, David ensured that Jonathan’s son Mephibosheth would always be safe and cared for as his own son (9:7). In the same way, we who were once God’s enemies, marked for death, have been saved by Jesus and given a place with Him in heaven forever. That’s what it means to eat at the banquet in the kingdom of God that Luke describes in his gospel (Luke 14:15). Here we are—the sons and daughters of a King! What extravagant, undeserved kindness we’ve received! Let’s draw near to God in gratitude and joy. By:  Karen Kwek

Reflect & Pray

When are you likely to forget that God protects and cares for you? How could 2 Samuel 9:6–13 encourage you during such times?

Dear Jesus, thank You for saving me and giving me a place at Your table forever. Remind me that I’m Your dear child, and help me to always praise and trust You.

My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Monday, October 11, 2021
God’s Silence— Then What?

When He heard that he was sick, He stayed two more days in the place where He was. —John 11:6

Has God trusted you with His silence— a silence that has great meaning? God’s silences are actually His answers. Just think of those days of absolute silence in the home at Bethany! Is there anything comparable to those days in your life? Can God trust you like that, or are you still asking Him for a visible answer? God will give you the very blessings you ask if you refuse to go any further without them, but His silence is the sign that He is bringing you into an even more wonderful understanding of Himself. Are you mourning before God because you have not had an audible response? When you cannot hear God, you will find that He has trusted you in the most intimate way possible— with absolute silence, not a silence of despair, but one of pleasure, because He saw that you could withstand an even bigger revelation. If God has given you a silence, then praise Him— He is bringing you into the mainstream of His purposes. The actual evidence of the answer in time is simply a matter of God’s sovereignty. Time is nothing to God. For a while you may have said, “I asked God to give me bread, but He gave me a stone instead” (see Matthew 7:9). He did not give you a stone, and today you find that He gave you the “bread of life” (John 6:35).

A wonderful thing about God’s silence is that His stillness is contagious— it gets into you, causing you to become perfectly confident so that you can honestly say, “I know that God has heard me.” His silence is the very proof that He has. As long as you have the idea that God will always bless you in answer to prayer, He will do it, but He will never give you the grace of His silence. If Jesus Christ is bringing you into the understanding that prayer is for the glorifying of His Father, then He will give you the first sign of His intimacy— silence.

Wisdom From Oswald Chambers

Is He going to help Himself to your life, or are you taken up with your conception of what you are going to do? God is responsible for our lives, and the one great keynote is reckless reliance upon Him. Approved Unto God, 10 R

Bible in a Year: Isaiah 37-38; Colossians 3

A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Monday, October 11, 2021

Brighter Skies Ahead - #9066

It was April in the mountains of the West, which means you can experience any or all of the four seasons in just one trip. We'd recently started our journey in warm temperatures, but by the time we hit that mountain pass, it started to snow - I mean the thick, big flakes kind of snow. You know what? Actually all of us started singing Christmas carols - even though it was just a few days before Easter. We were racing a deadline, so the snow was a mixed blessing. It was incredibly beautiful, but it was almost blinding at times, and it made our trip slower; it made it more treacherous. And then we saw it - this thin line of sunshine between the bottom of the snow clouds and the tops of the mountains ahead. We were excited because that was our future.

I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Brighter Skies Ahead."

It was tough driving, and the journey was getting more difficult and more dangerous. But we were okay with that because we knew there were brighter skies ahead. And soon we were actually basking in sunshine everywhere.

It could be that you're driving a stretch in your life-journey right now that's pretty rough. You're getting tired of how hard it is to keep moving. You're anxious about what could happen and you're wondering how long it's going to be like this. You need to see some sunshine. And there is some. I love this simple reassurance of Psalm 30:5. It's our word for today from the Word of God, where He says, "Weeping may remain for a night, but rejoicing comes in the morning." That's some sunshine, huh? The Bible never denies that we will have seasons of hurt then weeping, but God wants us to see the sun beneath the clouds ahead. It won't always be this way. He promises that. He says that after tears in the night, there will be joy in the morning.

My wife was driving when we hit that heavy snow in the mountains. But when she saw that line of sunlight ahead, she said, "If I knew I had to drive like this all night, it would be tough. But I know there's better road ahead." Well, that's God's guarantee for every child of His. Whenever I think I've got a heavy burden, it helps me to think about the load the Apostle Paul carried - shipwrecks, beatings, imprisonments, rejection, and death threats. I mean, major storms. That was one perilous journey.

But he said, "We do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal weight of glory that far outweighs them all." Paul calls all those painful times (did you notice?) "light and momentary" even though he's in the middle of some of that pain. He's comparing it to the sunshine ahead, knowing that compared to how good and how long the good times are going to be, this junk is light and momentary. So, he says, "we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal." Temporary. This too shall pass. And the day on the other side of this night is going to be awesome!

The difference is what you choose to fix your eyes on. If you focus on the storm you're in, you'll lose hope. You'll give up. But if you keep your eyes on the sun on the horizon - the rewards for your faithfulness, the deepening of your relationship with your Lord, the better thing God will give you in place of what you have lost - then there will be joy in the journey. So, keep on driving. Drive carefully. Look down the road at the beauty that's ahead. For just like us on that snowy, stormy day, you'll soon be celebrating a break in the clouds and a day that is flooded with glorious sunlight. No matter how dark it looks now, there are brighter skies ahead!