Wednesday 23 February, 2022
Matthew puts this OT scripture confirmation (Is 42:1-4), of who Jesus was, right in the middle of story’s of Jesus miraculously healing & delivering people which brought hatred from the Jewish leaders. This passage is confirming God’s love, authority & Spirit given to Him & it confirms His character – justice.
The verse that I have gravitated to is v21. ‘In his name the gentiles will hope’. Hundreds of years (700) before Jesus, God spoke this & thousands (2,000) of years later I’m reading it. This speaks to me of Gods unswerving control of history & my life in the midst of eternity. He is there before I am. He knows I need hope. He knew I’d need Jesus, He knows my life & He is in control of all my circumstances. What an amazing God, how can I not put my trust in Him.
Father God the future & hope you have given me in Jesus is such a huge comfort & assurance, even when things look the opposite, I know that you have got this. Thank you from a grateful heart.
Written by Suzie Hodgson
Thanks Suzie.
I am drawn to the phrase “Aware of this Jesus withdrew from that place.” The previous verse says that the Pharisees were conspiring against Jesus with a view to destroy Him. Well who wouldn’t withdraw, what a natural reaction. Of course we do not know the motive of Jesus for withdrawing. We are aware that He commonly went to lonely places to pray. This was one of His rhythms of life. So He could have just been following one of His rhythms for life or it could simply have been that it was not yet His time as John reflects in John 7:30 and John 8:20 or of course He could have been protecting Himself. All of this to say there are times when the best thing to do is to withdraw. We are not built to always be taking the hill, always advancing. We do well to note when we should be on the advance and when we should withdraw.
Father, give me the wisdom to know in what circumstances I need to withdraw and the courage to do so.
God bless you ❤