Daily Manna 12 July
KEY VERSE: “But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord.” – (2 Corinthians 3:18)
TEXT: Obadiah 1:10-21
“For violence against your brother Jacob,
Shame shall cover you,
And you shall be cut off forever.
11 In the day that you stood on the other side—
In the day that strangers carried captive his forces,
When foreigners entered his gates
And cast lots for Jerusalem—
Even you were as one of them.
12 “But you should not have gazedon the day of your brother
In the day of his captivity;
Nor should you have rejoiced over the children of Judah
In the day of their destruction;
Nor should you have spoken proudly
In the day of distress.
13 You should not have entered the gate of My people
In the day of their calamity.
Indeed, you should not have gazed on their affliction
In the day of their calamity,
Nor laid hands on their substance
In the day of their calamity.
14 You should not have stood at the crossroads
To cut off those among them who escaped;
Nor should you have delivered up those among them who remained
In the day of distress.
15 “For the day of the Lord upon all the nations is near;
As you have done, it shall be done to you;
Your reprisal shall return upon your own head.
16 For as you drank on My holy mountain,
So shall all the nations drink continually;
Yes, they shall drink, and swallow,
And they shall be as though they had never been.
“But on Mount Zion there shall be deliverance,
And there shall be holiness;
The house of Jacob shall possess their possessions.
18 The house of Jacob shall be a fire,
And the house of Joseph a flame;
But the house of Esau shall be stubble;
They shall kindle them and devour them,
And no survivor shall remain of the house of Esau,”
For the Lord has spoken.
19 The [g]South shall possess the mountains of Esau,
And the Lowland shall possess Philistia.
They shall possess the fields of Ephraim
And the fields of Samaria.
Benjamin shall possess Gilead.
20 And the captives of this host of the children of Israel
Shall possess the land of the Canaanites
As far as Zarephath.
The captives of Jerusalem who are in Sepharad
Shall possess the cities of the South.
21 Then saviors shall come to Mount Zion
To judge the mountains of Esau,
And the kingdom shall be the Lord’s.
Read yesterday’s Daily Manna here
Hatred is the precursor to violence but it is instructive to state that the one who manifests hatred toward others end up injuring himself more than the target of his hatred. Adolf Hitler, because of his hatred for the Jewish race, worked assiduously towards wiping out the people. He deployed several wicked strategies and went everywhere to capture and bring the them to concentration camps to be killed in what was referred to as holocaust. He succeeded in killing over six million Jews worldwide but ended unceremoniously by committing suicide while his accomplices were sentenced to different jail terms.
Today’s passage opens with the controversy God had with Edom as a nation for his violence against his vulnerable brother, Jacob. Aside taking advantage of Jacob by blocking the way of those escaping from danger, Edom also looked away from the need to help Jacob but rather colluded with the enemy to bring him down. God hates violence in whatever form. It is sin and will attract its due reward as was the case with Edom.
Violence is a clear evidence of an unregenerate soul and it is reflected when an individual is glad at the misfortune of others, or tries to take advantage of a vulnerable person. A believer must not take advantage of others in his workplace, business, church or the neighbourhood and should not join others in riotous behaviour that could lead to the destruction of life and properties.
Deliverance and freedom from violent acts lie in approaching the Saviour who gives pardon and releases from guilt with the privilege of holiness of life and recovery of lost grounds. Repentance from violence will definitely avert the retribution that awaits all wicked souls.
THOUGHT FOR THE DAY: Violence is alien to those who have visited Calvary.
BIBLE IN ONE YEAR: 2 Kings 24-25
Thank you for studying today’s Daily Manna – Violence Forbidden – by Pastor Enoch A.
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Daily Manna 12 July 2021
