Daily Devotion

8th April – Is not this to know me?

Audio

Prepare

Today is Tuesday, the 8th of April. We are still in the season of Lent and five days from entering the Holy Week. Let us regather our scattered senses and be still before the Lord.

Psalm Reading
The appointed psalm for today is Psalm 123.

¹ To you I lift up my eyes,
    O you who are enthroned in the heavens!
² Behold, as the eyes of servants
    look to the hand of their master,
as the eyes of a maidservant
    to the hand of her mistress,
so our eyes look to the Lord our God,
    till he has mercy upon us.
³ Have mercy upon us, O Lord, have mercy upon us,
    for we have had more than enough of contempt.
⁴ Our soul has had more than enough
    of the scorn of those who are at ease,
    of the contempt of the proud.

Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit:
as It was in the beginning, is now, and shall be forever. Amen.

Scripture Reading
We read the Old Testament Reading from Jeremiah 22:13-17:

¹³ “Woe to him who builds his house by unrighteousness,
    and his upper rooms by injustice,
who makes his neighbor serve him for nothing
    and does not give him his wages,
¹⁴ who says, ‘I will build myself a great house
    with spacious upper rooms,’
who cuts out windows for it,
    paneling it with cedar
    and painting it with vermilion.
¹⁵ Do you think you are a king
    because you compete in cedar?
Did not your father eat and drink
    and do justice and righteousness?
    Then it was well with him.
¹⁶ He judged the cause of the poor and needy;
    then it was well.
Is not this to know me?
    declares the Lord.
¹⁷ But you have eyes and heart
    only for your dishonest gain,
for shedding innocent blood,
    and for practicing oppression and violence.”

Reflection

There is an interesting question in verse 17: Is not this to know me?

We seldom associate justice with following Jesus. We go to church regularly, attend Cell meetings, participate in discipling programmes and are faithful to our daily devotions. We do all the things expected of good Christians.

But are we aware that God is supremely concern with how we treat those who are less privileged than us?

Think of your domestic helper, the carpark attendant, the old man who runs your favourite hawker stall or your employees. Do we realise that how we treat them matters to God? Our social culture shapes our behaviour. We have a quiet class system. We harbor prejudice. Our attitudes are almost instinctive. People could be invisible to us. We may not think twice about being harsh or unfair. For our “eyes and heart is only focus on dishonest gain (v17).”

Jeremiah warned us that in trying to “build ourselves a great house” (verse 13) we may be “building the upper floors” in unrighteous and unjust ways towards others. When you think about it, everyone is building something in life. Our “house” can be our studies, career, wealth or social reputation. We are constantly building and trying to add the “upper floors.” But how we do it is important to God.

I will read the well known verse, Micah 6:8, in the King James Version:
He hath shown thee, O man, what is good: and what doth the Lord require of thee but to do justly and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God?

Prayer

In this season of Lent, is the Lord speaking to you about an area in your life which is displeasing to Him?

Is He moving you to do something different for someone who is needy?

Let’s observe a minute of silence or you may want to pause the audio. Is there a foreign worker, a domestic helper or someone you should take notice and spend a few moments to pray for?

Prayer

Look with pity, O heavenly Father, upon the people in this city who live with injustice, discrimination and loneliness as their constant companions. Many foreigners come to our city hoping to earn fair wages and improve their lives. Some are constantly wrestling with the anxiety over the need to secure immigration work permits and passes. Have mercy upon them, O Lord. We pray that we will be willing to accept them as equals and support them where we can. And grant that every one of us may enjoy a fair portion of the riches of this city; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Benediction

We close with the Trinitarian blessing:

May the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit, be with you all evermore. Amen.

The devotion has ended. We leave you with this beautiful rendition of “Instrument of Peace”. This song is an adaptation of the Prayer of St Francis, which is a cry for us as believers to be channels of God’s grace and love to others – not just in convenient times, but also in difficult ones. This song is from the “Poets and Prophets” Project Album. More information can be found in this link.

The Prayer of St. Francis
Lord, make me an instrument of your peace,
Where there is hatred, let me sow love;
Where there is injury, pardon;
Where there is doubt, faith;
Where there is despair, hope;
Where there is darkness, light;
Where there is sadness, joy;  

O Divine Master,
Grant that I may not so much seek
To be consoled as to console;
To be understood as to understand;
To be loved as to love.  

For it is in giving that we receive;
It is in pardoning that we are pardoned;
And it is in dying that we are born to eternal life. 

Link to today’s Morning Office.