[Tuesday's Devotional] - The Nature of the God of Israel

The Nature of the God of Israel God established a covenant with Israel, from the earliest days through Abraham, and then through his rescue of the nation from oppression in Egypt.  Admittedly it's a long time ago, but we understand from the Bible that this covenant was broken by the Israelites because of idolatry and injustice.  This injustice had many forms, including inequality, poverty, and oppression; just some of the forms from which God had saved them in the Exodus! If this story tells us something about the nature of the God of Israel, then we still need to heed the message. Indeed, Jesus and the early church reinforce them through what they did and said. Over recent years in Rugby, churches have been active in response to our social problems.  We have seen the introduction of Street Pastors, the Trussell Trust Foodbank, Hope 4 provision for homeless people, support for people in debt through Christians Against Poverty and current exploration to provide meals for children in the school holidays, through Make Lunch.  Rugby is not unique in this. These are expressions of Christian compassion to which we are called.  But we often find it difficult to answer questions about 'why' this provision is needed.  We can describe the need and draw on the statistics to prove it.  We are on less certain ground when we suggest analyses for these conditions.  We are less confident to draw conclusions which point to the role of global markets and the choices that we and our governments make.  We are all complicit in accepting the ideas of free market choice, ideas which, when taken too far, make living out 'neighbour love' more problematic.     When Jeremiah was called to prophesy against God's people, he was given words which seem particularly relevant to us as elections approach: 'This is what the Lord says: Let not the wise boast in their wisdom or the strong boast in their strength or the rich boast in their riches, but let those who boast, boast about this: that they understand and know me, that I am the Lord, who exercises kindness, justice and righteousness on earth, for in these I delight, declares the Lord.                                                                                      Jeremiah 9:23,24 [TNIV]   Take time to pray for politicians, aspiring politicians and ourselves.   Richard Farnell    Twitter Website Copyright © 2017 St. Matthew & St. Oswald's Church, All rights reserved. You are receiving this email as a subscriber to the Daily Devotionals Our mailing address is: St. Matthew & St. Oswald's Church 1a New Street Rugby, Warwickshire CV22 7BE United Kingdom Add us to your address book Want to change how you receive these emails? You can update your preferences or unsubscribe from this list Want to be added to our mailing list? - sign up here!