Reading with the Pastor
Luke 4 and Psalm 78:34-72
Notice verse 14
“And Jesus returned in the power of the Spirit to Galilee, and a report about him went out through all the surrounding country.”
Observation: There seems to be a connection between the Lord’s 40 days of prayer through His temptation in the wilderness and expansion of His ministry throughout the entire region of Galilee.
Notice verse 28 and 29.
“When they heard these things, all in the synagogue were filled with wrath. And they rose up and drove him out of the town and brought him to the brow of the hill on which their town was built, so they could throw him down the cliff.”
Observation: Power and advancing ministry opportunity did not mean that there was not violent opposition to Him for telling the truth and confronting sin.
Further Thought: If we follow Jesus, and pray as He prayed, and live as He lived, and preach as He preached, we can expect both advancing ministry opportunity and significant opposition.
Comment on Psalm 78
There are things we learn only through the pain of being broken. There are some things that reach our hearts, change our perspective, and transform our lives that only come through the sorrow of failure.
Consider this tale, a gift from the Hassidic tradition:
A disciple asks the rebbe:
“Why does the Torah tell us to ‘place these words upon your hearts’? Why does it not tell us to place these holy words in our hearts?”
The rebbe answers:
“It is because as we are, our hearts are closed, and we cannot place the holy words in our hearts. So we place them on top of our hearts. And there they stay until, one day, the heart breaks and words fall in.”
Excerpt from AHolyExperience.com 7/3/17
Post by Deidra Riggs
