October 30
"Yet God had chosen Israel. He had called them to preserve among men the knowledge of His law, and of the symbols and prophecies that pointed to the Saviour. He desired them to be as wells of salvation to the world. What Abraham was in the land of his sojourn, what Joseph was in Egypt, and Daniel in the courts of Babylon, the Hebrew people were to be among the nations. They were to reveal God to men.
In the call of Abraham the Lord had said, "I will bless thee; . . . and thou shalt be a blessing: . . . and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed." Gen. 12:2, 3. The same teaching was repeated through the prophets. Even after Israel had been wasted by war and captivity, the promise was theirs, "The remnant of Jacob shall be in the midst of many people as a dew from the Lord, as the showers upon the grass, that tarrieth not for man, nor waiteth for the sons of men." Micah 5:7. Concerning the temple at Jerusalem, the Lord declared through Isaiah, "Mine house shall be called an house of prayer for all peoples." Isa. 56:7
Desire of Ages, page 27 from the chapter, 'The chosen people'
Man had long since walked away from God to do their own thing and to think their own thoughts. God still remembered the glorious days in the garden, the long talks and the love that had been shared. God also remembered His promise and His plan – so the process of reclaiming man had begun. We learned if that in the first chapter of Desire of Ages – ‘God with us’.
God did not want the people He rescued and reclaimed to rest on their relationship alone with their Redeemer. Ordinary human beings were to share their great good fortune with people who had not experienced this restored relationship.
In our paragraph for today the great worthies of the ages, Abraham and Daniel, were mentioned as ambassadors for God’s word, will and love. The same task is also set for us. We won’t use the same methods as the prophets of old, but we do have the same task.
There is one simple phrase in the reading for you to take note of today. “Be a blessing”. Take some time, with your prayer partner, to decide to be a blessing to someone today. Don’t preach, don’t teach – just do something good today for someone.
 |
Housekeeping details for you
The point of this short blog will become clear if you decide to use this reading in the way we intend it. Netherfield Seventh-day Adventist Church believes in healthy churches. You can see what that means if you head to the relevant Healthy Churches page of the website. We also want other churches to be healthy. That means you can join in our campaign to create healthy churches, with healthy people serving the people in those churches.
A healthy church is one where Jesus comes first. A healthy church is one where the people work together to put Jesus first. One thing we are doing is to join people together to spread that news. I would like you to look at our prayer partners page. This will explain how we want you to use this short devotional. Very basically we want you to find a like-minded Christian friend who you will join with to : choose to pray together every day, decide together on a way to serve other people together, to help them grow as Christians - and to invite the Holy Spirit into your life every day. This blog that you will receive every day simply gives a common spiritual purpose. If you are a newcomer and want to join the blog with this object in mind click here
From October 21st this site will continue going through 'Desire of Ages' - but begin to advance rather faster than one paragraph at a time.
Our sister site, at the Upper Room, will progress at a rather slower pace - one paragraph at a time. If you want to head to our sister site for the slower trip through an excellent book you will eventually follow a link to the Upper Room. This will start on October 21st.
