© Matthew Tuel — 2025
Genesis 20:4-6 (NET, 2nd Ed.)
4 “You shall not make for yourself a carved image or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above or that is on the earth beneath or that is in the water below. 5 You shall not bow down to them or serve them, for I, the LORD, your God, am a jealous God, responding to the transgression of fathers by dealing with children to the third and fourth generations of those who reject me, 6 and showing covenant faithfulness to a thousand generations of those who love me and keep my commandments.
Micah 7:14-20 (NET, 2nd Ed.)
14 Shepherd your people with your shepherd’s rod,
the flock that belongs to you,
the one that lives alone in a thicket,
in the midst of a pastureland.
Allow them to graze in Bashan and Gilead,
as they did in the old days.
15 “As in the days when you departed from the land of Egypt,
I will show you miraculous deeds.”
16 Nations will see this and be disappointed by all their strength,
they will put their hands over their mouths,
and act as if they were deaf.
17 They will lick the dust like a snake,
like serpents crawling on the ground.
They will come trembling from their strongholds
to the LORD our God;
they will be terrified of you.
18 There is no other God like you!
You forgive sin
and pardon the rebellion
of those who remain among your people.
You do not remain angry forever,
but delight in showing loyal love.
19 You will once again have mercy on us;
you will conquer our evil deeds;
you will hurl our sins into the depths of the sea.
20 You will be loyal to Jacob
and extend your loyal love to Abraham,
which you promised on oath to our ancestors in ancient times.
Romans 8:29 (NET, 2nd Ed.)
29 because those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, that his Son would be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters.
1st John 2:28-3:5 (NET)
28 And now, little children, remain in him, so that when he appears we may have confidence and not shrink away from him in shame when he comes back. 29 If you know that he is righteous, you also know that everyone who practices righteousness has been fathered by him. 3:1 (See what sort of love the Father has given to us: that we should be called God’s children—and indeed we are! For this reason the world does not know us: because it did not know him. 2 Dear friends, we are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet been revealed. We know that whenever it is revealed we will be like him, because we will see him just as he is. 3 And everyone who has this hope focused on him purifies himself, just as Jesus is pure). 4 Everyone who practices sin also practices lawlessness; indeed, sin is lawlessness. 5 And you know that Jesus was revealed to take away sins, and in him there is no sin.
In Calvin's devotional, we see God's unending mercy with the Israelites. Thankfully, he is just as merciful with us even though we are just as ungrateful and disobedient as the Israelites were (and are.)
In Spurgeon's devotion, we see that God had a plan to sanctify us, for us to become Christ-like, and sin less. My pastor says often that the more we learn about God, the more we want to learn about God. That's something I have been experiencing with this study, as well as my study of Systematic Theology. Its not a chore, its something I look forward to each day.