Dear Lord God, thank You, I praise You for Your glory and mercy, that in spite of my weak sinfulness You would continue to touch my life and bless me so by allowing me to see Your hand in my daily walk. I know I have just begun and have far to go, but with Your help I will walk one step at a time in the now with You seeking to focus on and stay connected to You Lord God. And while I stand convicted by the Spirit for this weak and sinful nature, I know that as long as You are with me the work continues and that with each step my reflection is less like me and more like You. For as the Palmist proclaims today, ‘the greatness of human beings consists in God’s choosing them as a special people and their faithful response.’ Therefore never let me be fooled by myself again, for I now realize that any good that I do, anything that is achieved is because of You. And it is through my Lord Jesus Christ via the Holy Spirit that I will find the knowledge and wisdom that I seek, all else is like me branches of this vine. O Lord God that You would continue to bless me indeed and enlarge my territory that Your hand would be with me to keep me from evil and from causing pain. This I ask in Jesus name, Amen.
There is no repentance for the angels after their fall, just as there is no repentance for men after death. — St. John Damascene, De fide orthodoxa. 2, 4
Genesis 41:55-57; 42:5-7, 17-24
55 When all the land of Egypt was famished, the people cried to Pharaoh for bread; and Pharaoh said to all the Egyptians, "Go to Joseph; what he says to you, do." 56 So when the famine had spread over all the land, Joseph opened all the storehouses, and sold to the Egyptians, for the famine was severe in the land of Egypt. 57 Moreover, all the earth came to Egypt to Joseph to buy grain, because the famine was severe over all the earth.
5 Thus the sons of Israel came to buy among the others who came, for the famine was in the land of Canaan. 6 Now Joseph was governor over the land; he it was who sold to all the people of the land. And Joseph’s brothers came, and bowed themselves before him with their faces to the ground. 7 Joseph saw his brothers, and knew them, but he treated them like strangers and spoke roughly to them. "Where do you come from?" he said. They said, "From the land of Canaan, to buy food." 17 And he put them all together in prison for three days. 18 On the third day Joseph said to them, "Do this and you will live, for I fear God: 19 if you are honest men, let one of your brothers remain confined in your prison, and let the rest go and carry grain for the famine of your households, 20 and bring your youngest brother to me; so your words will be verified, and you shall not die." And they did so. 21 Then they said to one another, "In truth we are guilty concerning our brother, in that we saw the distress of his soul, when he besought us and we would not listen; therefore is this distress come upon us." 22 And Reuben answered them, "Did I not tell you not to sin against the lad? But you would not listen. So now there comes a reckoning for his blood." 23 They did not know that Joseph understood them, for there was an interpreter between them. 24 Then he turned away from them and wept; and he returned to them and spoke to them. And he took Simeon from them and bound him before their eyes.
2 Praise the LORD with the lyre, make melody to him with the harp of ten strings! 3 Sing to him a new song, play skilfully on the strings, with loud shouts. 10 The LORD brings the counsel of the nations to nought; he frustrates the plans of the peoples. 11 The counsel of the LORD stands for ever, the thoughts of his heart to all generations. 18 Behold, the eye of the LORD is on those who fear him, on those who hope in his steadfast love, 19 that he may deliver their soul from death, and keep them alive in famine.
Bible Study: [Psalm 33] A hymn in which the just are invited (Psalm 33:1-3) to praise God, who by a mere word (Psalm 33:4-5) created the three-tiered universe of the heavens, the cosmic waters, and the earth (Psalm 33:6-9). Human words, in contrast, effect nothing (Psalm 33:10-11). The greatness of human beings consists in God’s choosing them as a special people and their faithful response (Psalm 33:12-22).
1 And he called to him his twelve disciples and gave them authority over unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to heal every disease and every infirmity. 2 The names of the twelve apostles are these: first, Simon, who is called Peter, and Andrew his brother; James the son of Zeb’edee, and John his brother; 3 Philip and Bartholomew; Thomas and Matthew the tax collector; James the son of Alphaeus, and Thaddaeus; 4 Simon the Cananaean, and Judas Iscariot, who betrayed him. 5 These twelve Jesus sent out, charging them, "Go nowhere among the Gentiles, and enter no town of the Samaritans, 6 but go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. 7 And preach as you go, saying, `The kingdom of heaven is at hand.’
Bible Study: [10:1-11:1] After an introductory narrative (Matthew 10:1-4), the second of the discourses of the gospel. It deals with the mission now to be undertaken by the disciples (Matthew 10:5-15), but the perspective broadens and includes the missionary activity of the church between the time of the resurrection and the parousia. 2 His twelve disciples: although, unlike Mark (Mark 3:13-14) and Luke (Luke 6:12-16), Matthew has no story of Jesus’ choosing the Twelve, he assumes that the group is known to the reader. The earliest New Testament text to speak of it is 1 Cor 15:5. The number probably is meant to recall the twelve tribes of Israel and implies Jesus’ authority to call all Israel into the kingdom. While Luke (Luke 6:13) and probably Mark (Mark 4:10, 34) distinguish between the Twelve and a larger group also termed disciples, Matthew tends to identify the disciples and the Twelve. Authority . . . every illness: activities the same as those of Jesus; see Matthew 4:23; Matthew 9:35; 10:8. The Twelve also share in his proclamation of the kingdom (Matthew 10:7). But although he teaches (Matthew 4:23; 7:28; 9:35), they do not. Their commission to teach comes only after Jesus’ resurrection, after they have been fully instructed by him (Matthew 28:20). [2-4] Here, for the only time in Matthew, the Twelve are designated apostles. The word "apostle" means "one who is sent," and therefore fits the situation here described. In the Pauline letters, the place where the term occurs most frequently in the New Testament, it means primarily one who has seen the risen Lord and has been commissioned to proclaim the resurrection. With slight variants in Luke and Acts, the names of those who belong to this group are the same in the four lists given in the New Testament (see the note on Matthew 9:9). Cananean: this represents an Aramaic word meaning "zealot." The meaning of that designation is unclear (see the note on Luke 6:15). [5-6] Like Jesus (Matthew 15:24), the Twelve are sent only to Israel. This saying may reflect an original Jewish Christian refusal of the mission to the Gentiles, but for Matthew it expresses rather the limitation that Jesus himself observed during his ministry.
One Walk 