14
To the LORD your God belong the heavens, even the highest heavens, the earth and everything in it.
15
Yet the LORD set his affection on your forefathers and loved them, and he chose you, their descendants, above all the nations, as it is today.
16
Circumcise your hearts, therefore, and do not be stiff-necked any longer.
17
For the LORD your God is God of gods and Lord of lords, the great God, mighty and awesome, who shows no partiality and accepts no bribes.
18
He defends the cause of the fatherless and the widow, and loves the alien, giving him food and clothing.
19
And you are to love those who are aliens, for you yourselves were aliens in Egypt.
20
Fear the LORD your God and serve him. Hold fast to him and take your oaths in his name.
21
He is your praise; he is your God, who performed for you those great and awesome wonders you saw with your own eyes.
22
Your forefathers who went down into Egypt were seventy in all, and now the LORD your God has made you as numerous as the stars in the sky.
FRIDAY, OCTOBER 14BABY BOY
BIBLE IN A YEAR: ISAIAH 43–44; 1 THESSALONIANS 2
TODAY’S BIBLE READING: DEUTERONOMY 10:14–22
[God] defends the cause of the fatherless and the widow, and loves the foreigner residing among you. [ DEUTERONOMY 10:18 ]
For more than a year, his legal name was “Baby Boy.” Discovered by a security guard who heard his cries, Baby Boy had been abandoned-hours old and wrapped only in a bag-in a hospital parking lot.
Soon after his discovery, Social Services called the people who would one day become his forever family. The couple took him in and called him Grayson (not his real name). Finally, the adoption was complete, and Grayson’s name became official. Today you can meet a delightful child who mispronounces his r’s as he earnestly engages you in conversation. You’d never guess he’d once been found abandoned in a bag.
Late in his life, Moses reviewed God’s character and what He’d done for the people of Israel. “The Lord set his affection on your ancestors and loved them,” Moses told them (DEUTERONOMY 10:15). This love had a broad scope. “He defends the cause of the fatherless and the widow, and loves the foreigner residing among you, giving them food and clothing,” Moses said (V. 18). “He is the one you praise; he is your God” (V. 21).
Whether it’s through adoption or simply through love and service, we’re all called to reflect God’s love. That loving couple became the hands and feet God used to extend His love to some- one who might have gone unnoticed and unclaimed. We can serve as His hands and feet too. TIM GUSTAFSON
How have you sensed God extending His love to you in ways large and small? What small thing might you do today to reflect that love?
Heavenly Father, have mercy on the fatherless. Help me to be Your hands and feet today.
10월 14일 •금요일베이비 보이
성경읽기: 이사야 43-44; 데살로니가전서 2
새찬송가: 218(통369)
오늘의 성경말씀: 신명기 10:14-22
고아와 과부를 위하여 정의를 행하시며 나그네를 사랑하여 [신명기 10:18]
일년 넘도록 아기의 공식 이름은 “베이비 보이”였습니다. 태어난 지 몇 시간 만에 그냥 싸인 채 가방 속에 담겨 병원 주차장에 버려진 베이비 보이는 아기 울음소리를 들은 경비원에게 발견되었습니다.
발견되고 얼마 후 사회복지 기관에서는 아기에게 나중에 정식으로 가족이 될 만한 분에게 연락했습니다. 그 부부는 아기를 돌보기로 하고 임시로 그레이슨이라고 불렀습니다. 마침내 입양이 완료되어 그레이슨이 공식 이름이 되었습니다. 오늘 당신은 글자 ‘r’을 잘못 발음하면서도 이야기에 끼기 좋아하는 유쾌한 아이를 만나 볼 수 있을 겁니다. 그 아이가 한때 가방에 넣어 버려졌던 아기라고는 짐작도 못할 것입니다.
모세는 인생의 끝에 가서 하나님의 성품과 그분이 이스라엘 백성을 위해 하신 일을 되돌아보았습니다. 모세는 그들에게 “여호와께서 오직 네 조상들을 기뻐하시고 그들을 사랑하셨다”(신명기 10:15)라고 말했습니다. 이 사랑의 범위는 너무나 넓었습니다. 모세는 이렇게 말했습니다. “고아와 과부를 위하여 정의를 행하시며 나그네를 사랑하여 그에게 떡과 옷을 주시나니”(18 절), “그는 네 찬송이시요 네 하나님이시라”(21절).
입양을 하거나 단순한 사랑과 봉사를 하거나 우리 모두는 하나님의 사랑을 드러내도록 부름받았습니다. 사랑이 많았던 그 부부는 아무도 봐주지 않고 그냥 버려질 뻔했던 한 사람에게 하나님의 손과 발이 되어 사랑을 베풀었습니다. 우리도 그분의 손과 발이 될 수 있습니다.
하나님께서 당신에게 크고 작은 사랑을 베푸시는 것을 어떻게 느끼셨습니까? 당신은 오늘 어떤 작은 실천으로 그 사랑을 표현하겠습니까?
하늘에 계신 아버지, 고아를 불쌍히 여기소서. 오늘 제가 당신의 손과 발이 되도록 도와주소서.