‘but with righteousness he will judge the needy, with justice he will give decisions for the poor of the earth.’ (Isaiah 11:4 NIV)
At first sight, when it says a shoot who comes from the stump of Jessie (Isaiah 11:1) is going to judge the needy, it appears that he will condemn them, as that’s the way the word ‘judge’ is usually used in English. But Isaiah’s intent is that this shoot will make things just and put things right for the needy.

Paul McCartney once sang, ‘Someone’s knocking at the door, someone’s ringing the bell. Open the door and let ’em in.’

Elijah went before the people and said, “How long will you waver between two opinions? If the LORD is God, follow him; but if Baal is God, follow him.” (1 Kings 18:21 NIV)
Have you heard the saying, “I used to think I was indecisive, but now I’m not so sure”? Indecision can be fatal. If we just stand still in the middle of a road when a car is coming wondering should I run to the right or to the left the chances are we’ll be run over.

‘Praise the LORD.’ (Psalm 150:1–6 NIV)
The theme of praise dominates all the psalms, but as the end of the Psalter approaches praise rises to a crescendo. Each of the last five psalms begins and ends with “Hallelujah!” – Literally ‘Praise the Lord.’ Psalm 150 is the climax where we are given the where, why, how, and who of praise.

Husbands, in the same way be considerate as you live with your wives, and treat them with respect as the weaker partner and as heirs with you of the gracious gift of life, so that nothing will hinder your prayers. (1 Peter 3:7 NIV)

Boris Johnson was asked on the Today Programme this week, ‘Do you have a problem with women?’, to which he replied that as Mayor of London and as Prime Minister he has had around 50% of his key posts filled by women, and that he has been a champion of girls around the world having 12 years of education.

‘Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength.’ (Deuteronomy 6:5 NIV)
Jesus said this command from the Old Testament is the primary and greatest command from God to His people “(Matthew 22:37-38)”, and so from the very beginning God intended to relate to His people on the basis of love. The trouble is, to the modern ear this is a strange way to use the word ‘love’. After all love is something you do voluntarily isn’t it? Surely love is a feeling not a command. However, the command given in Deuteronomy and by Jesus is that in loving the Lord God we are to do so with all [our] heart and with all [our] soul and with all [our] strength. In other words we are commanded to love God with every fibre of our being and with our whole life. If love is basically a feeling, then when you love someone, you only love them with part of you.

‘When the man saw that he could not overpower him…’ (Genesis 32:25 NIV)
Jacob wrestled throughout the night with a mysterious figure who appeared as a man “(Genesis 32:24)”, called the place of this encounter Peniel because he had seen God face to face “(Genesis 32:30)”, and yet the text tells us that God could not overpower Jacob. Of course, God could have overpowered Jacob, just a gentle touch of his hip disabled him “(Genesis 32:25)”, so what is going on here?

One of the BBC’s flagship shows, Strictly Come Dancing, holds its launch show on Saturday, although it made the news this week for another reason. One of the shows judges said something inappropriate about last year’s winners and was made to offer an apology after recognising his words were ‘hurtful, cruel and incredibly disrespectful.’ 1

Did you see in the news this week that Christmas has come early, 149 days early, as Selfridges in London opened its Christmas shop claiming to be the first in the world to have a Christmas section? I thought it was bad enough having all the Christmas paraphernalia in the shops at the end October never mind the end of July! Soon, it seems, Christmas will be in our stores all year round, and the pop group Wizard, who belt out their song every year, will get their wish for Christmas to be every day.

‘Therefore keep watch, because you do not know the day or the hour.’ (Matthew 25:13 NIV)
Christian preacher and broadcaster Harold Camping predicted, based on his calculations of dates in Bible prophecy that the world would end on 21 May 2011. If you’re reading this devotion, he was mistaken. He wasn’t the first to predict the date of the end of world and the return of Christ and no doubt won’t be the last. The imminence of Christ’s second coming was heralded in the 1990s by the popular Left Behind series. Back in 1970 Hal Lindsey wrote The Late Great Planet Earth identifying apocalyptic symbols, primarily from the book of Daniel, as indications that the end was coming in his day. And way back in 1844 the Millerite movement experienced ‘The Great Disappointment’ after Jesus failed to return to earth in what William Miller called ‘The Advent.’

‘thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.’ (1 Corinthians 15:57 NIV)
“Cricket’s coming home, it’s coming home.” After over 40 years of hurt England’s men have won the cricket world cup for the first time as they defeated New Zealand. Sunday 14 July 2019 will go down in cricket history as the closest, most tense final ever. With scores tied after both innings and tied after the deciding ‘super over’ England won on a count back of the most boundaries scored in the match. After seven weeks of pulsating cricket victory came with the last ball bowled; it could not have been more dramatic. In the darkest hour of the match for England they needed a hero to step up and lead them to victory. Cometh the hour cometh Ben Stokes! His undefeated 84 earned him the man of the match award, paving the way for England’s success and for jubilant celebrations from English fans.

‘His intent was that now, through the church, the manifold wisdom of God should be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly realms’ (Ephesians 3:10 NIV)
What do you think of when you hear the word ‘church?’ Today we have the ‘virtual church,’ the ‘liquid church,’ the ‘messy church,’ the ‘domesticated church’ (alright I made that one up), and a whole host of other ‘churches.’ For the Apostle Paul the church is ‘the wisdom of God.’ God’s specific intention for the church is to make abundantly clear the multitudinous wisdom of God, and not just to the watching world but to the ‘the rulers and authorities in the heavenly realms.’ This is God’s eternal purpose in Christ Jesus (v.11). In the context of this chapter, and the wider letter to the Ephesians, this ‘wisdom’ that is to be shown is the bringing together of Jews and Gentiles as one in unity, prefiguring the bringing together of all things, when everything will be all-in-all in God “(1 Corinthians 15:28)”.

‘Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord.’ (Romans 12:19 KJV)
Nearly every time I have heard the above verse quoted it has been in brutal and revengeful terms. God will get his revenge on all those who have done evil in this world. Hardly ever are the next verses quoted to give the context of this statement: “‘Therefore if thine enemy hunger, feed him; if he thirst, give him drink: for in so doing thou shalt heap coals of fire on his head. Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good’ (Romans 12:20-21)”.

Should Boris Johnson appear in TV debates to discuss his leadership credentials? Should he answer questions about his private life? Does the public care? Do Conservative Party members, who will select the next party leader and Prime Minister, care? Maybe Boris feels to do so would make him vulnerable to attack with no mercy shown by press and public alike? As a result his rival in the leadership campaign, Jeremy Hunt, has called Boris a coward for not addressing these issues.

This is what the LORD says: “For three sins of Israel, even for four, I will not relent.
They sell the innocent for silver, and the needy for a pair of sandals. They trample on the heads of the poor as on the dust of the ground and deny justice to the oppressed…. (Amos 2:6–7 NIV)
Today when we think of morality we often think of it in terms of sex. The two words are commonly placed alongside one another and we talk of sexual-morality. But in the era of Amos the prophet, the greatest immorality he addressed was injustice to the poor, to strangers and those who were destitute. The plight of the poor and disenfranchised is central to his prophesies.

Last Friday, 7 June 2019, marked the end of Theresa May’s tenure of office as Conservative Party leader, though she will stay on as Prime Minister in a caretaker capacity until her party selects a new leader. For some her premiership has failed because of compromise with the EU and her failure to deliver the Brexit people wanted. For others she made a valiant effort to secure a withdrawal agreement and was let down by a lack of support from Parliament. History will no doubt reflect on the extremely difficult task of delivering Brexit, whoever the Prime Minister.

On 6 June 1944 the Allied invasion of Normandy in Operation Overlord during World War II took place. Codenamed Operation Neptune and often referred to as D-Day, it was the largest combined naval, air and land operation in history. The invasion established a crucial second front in the liberation of Europe from Nazi occupation, ultimately leading to victory in 1945.

‘but they who wait for the LORD shall renew their strength;
they shall mount up with wings like eagles;
they shall run and not be weary;
they shall walk and not faint.’
(Isaiah 40:31 ESV)
One of the universal experiences common to human beings is that of waiting. Students take exams and then have to wait for the results. Expectant mothers have to wait for their baby’s arrival. The greater part of our lives seems to be taken up with waiting for the next thing to happen: For the bus that never comes, the mortgage to come through, or that elusive job opening to materialise. And of course we can either wait impatiently, like a child on a long car journey continually asking ‘are we there yet?’ Or we can wait creatively making use of the time available to do something positive.

‘Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle and set apart for the gospel of God…regarding his Son,’ (Romans 1:1,3 NIV)
We don’t write letters like we used to. Today it’s all emails, texts, tweets, or Facebook messages. When we do write letters the modern convention is to address our correspondent first (Dear Jack…) and only identify ourselves at the end (Yours sincerely, Jill).

There has not been a lot of good news around recently. Headlines have been filled with terrorist attacks in New Zealand and Sri Lanka, Paris was hit with the fire at Notre Dame, and in Waltham Forest, the London Borough where I live, knife crime has rapidly increased and in the last few days two young women were abducted and raped.