ESOCS Devotional 18 September 2023 – Understanding the Times
MEMORY VERSE: “If you had known, even you especially in this your day, the things that make for your peace! But now they are hidden from your eyes.” Luke 19:42 NKJV
TEXT: LUKE 19:41-48 (KJV)
And when he was come near, he beheld the city, and wept over it,
42 Saying, If thou hadst known, even thou, at least in this thy day, the things which belong unto thy peace! but now they are hid from thine eyes.
43 For the days shall come upon thee, that thine enemies shall cast a trench about thee, and compass thee round, and keep thee in on every side,
44 And shall lay thee even with the ground, and thy children within thee; and they shall not leave in thee one stone upon another; because thou knewest not the time of thy visitation.
45 And he went into the temple, and began to cast out them that sold therein, and them that bought;
46 Saying unto them, It is written, My house is the house of prayer: but ye have made it a den of thieves.
47 And he taught daily in the temple. But the chief priests and the scribes and the chief of the people sought to destroy him,
48 And could not find what they might do: for all the people were very attentive to hear him.
Read Yesterday’s ESOCS Devotional here
Kofi Annan once said, “Knowledge is power, information is liberating. We live in a world of ever-growing information and technology; to be ignorant of this fact is to be handicapped.”
The text reveals Jesus’ surveying of the city, as He walked through after the triumphant entry. Notice that He went over the city, not because there were no houses or lucrative businesses, but because He wept over the future fate of the city He loved, which will soon be rejecting Him. So also, He continuously weeps over the world He came to save. The people of the world have rejected God in every aspect; we see the spirit of anti-Christ aggressively fighting to take over the media, politics, education, fashion and even the Church, and our Master weeps! (2 Tim. 3:1-5).
Both young and old constantly reject God and His word today; no wonder their end is always miserable. Peradventure you are still living in sin, pause for a while and reconcile with your Saviour now, while you still can. To live happy and safe, we must be equipped with knowledge and not just information (Hosea 4:6). Your understanding of the times, and the world is in, and how to acquire knowledge on what to do, will shield you from the damnation that befalls men on daily bases.
The text also points to the fact that Christ’s first place of a visit was the temple (see also Mal. 3:1) for confirmation of the prophecy.
Unfortunately, Jesus was displeased with what He saw in His Father’s house: robbers had infested the temple and there was blatant commercialism in temple services. It had become a venue for all kinds of business transactions that degraded the house of prayer into a den of robbers.
Today, we see worse things in the Church all over the world. Preachers seek opportunities to exploit God’s people through the selling of handkerchiefs and anointing oil. Sometimes, people are made to pay some amount of money before seeing a man of God.
What must be your responsibility at a time like this? God expects us to be prepared and well-equipped so He can use us as replacement sons, in order to correct those errors. How prepared and knowledgeable are you? Let the burden of what is going on in the church, the country and the whole world push you into acquiring understanding to proffer solutions.
- Lord, please help me to understand the times.
FURTHER READING: 1 Chronicles 12:1-32 (v 32*); Job 19:19-end; Luke 19:41-end; 2 Corinthians 1:15-2:4
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ESOCS Devotional 18 September 2023
