22.2 Sacrifice Without Respect

(Malachi 1:6-14)

The Lord Almighty says to the priests, “A son honors his father, and a servant honors his master. I am your father – why don’t you honor me? I am your master – why don’t you respect me? You despise me, and yet you ask, ‘How have we despised you?’ This is how – by offering worthless food on my altar. Then you ask, ‘How have we failed to respect you?’. I will tell you- by showing contempt for my altar. When you bring a blind or sick or lame animal to sacrifice to me, do you think there’s nothing wrong with that? Try giving an animal like that to the governor! Would he be pleased with you or grant you any favors?”

Now, you priests, try asking God to be good to us. He will not answer your prayer, and it will be your fault. The Lord Almighty says, “I wish one of you would close the Temple doors so as to prevent you from lighting useless fire on my altar. I am not pleased with you; I will not accept the offerings you bring me. People from one end of the world to the other honor me. Everywhere they burn incense to me and offer acceptable sacrifices. All of them honor me! But you dishonor me when you say that my altar is worthless and when you offer on it food that you despise. You say, ‘How tired we are of all this!’ and you turn up your nose at me. As your offering to me you bring a stolen animal or one that is lame or sick. Do you think I will accept that from you? A curse on the cheater who sacrifices a worthless animal to me, when he has in his flock a good animal that he promised to give me! For I am a great king, and people of all nations fear me.”

22.1 Obedience Is Better Than Sacrifice

(1 Samuel 15:22-23)

Samuel said, “Which does the Lord prefer: obedience or offerings and sacrifices? It is better to obey him than to sacrifice the best sheep to him. Rebellion against him is as bad as witchcraft, and arrogance is as sinful as idolatry. Because you rejected the Lord’s command, he has rejected you as king.”

21.5 Praise The Lord Who Gives Food

(Psalm 111)

Praise the Lord!

With all my heart I will thank the Lord
in the assembly of his people.
How wonderful are the things the Lord does!
All who are delighted with them
want to understand them.
All he does is full of honor and majesty;
his righteousness is eternal.

The Lord does not let us forget his wonderful actions;
he is merciful.
He provides food for those who have reverence for him;
he never forgets his covenant.
He has shown his power to his people
by giving them the lands of foreigners.

In all he does he is faithful and righteousness.
He set his people free and made an eternal
covenant with them.
Holy and mighty is he!

The way to become wise is to have reverence for the Lord;
he gives sound judgment to all who obey
his commands.
He is to be praised forever.

21.4 Give Food To The Hungry

(James 2:14-17)

My brothers, what good is it for someone to say that he has faith if his actions do not prove it? Can that faith save him? Suppose there are brothers or sisters who need clothes and don’t have enough to eat. What good is there in your saying to then, “God bless you! Keep warm and eat well!” – if you don’t give them the necessities of life? So it is with faith: if it is alone and includes no actions, then it is dead.

21.3 Be Happy If You Have Enough To Eat

(1 Timothy 6:7-10)

What did we bring into the world? Nothing! What can we take out of the world? Nothing! So then, if we have food and clothes, that should be enough for us. But those who want to get rich fall into temptation and are caught in the trap of many foolish and harmful desires, which pull them down to ruin and destruction. For the love of money is a source of all kinds of evil. Some have been so eager to have it that they have wandered away from the faith and have broken their hearts with many sorrows.

21.2 Jesus Feeds 5,000

(Matthew 14:13-21)

When Jesus heard the news about John, he left there in a boat and went to a lonely place by himself. The people heard about it, and so they left their towns and followed him by land. Jesus got out of the boat, and when he saw the large crowd, his heart was filled with pity for them, and he healed their sick.

That evening his disciples came to him and said, “It is already very late, and this is a lonely place. Send the people away and let them go to the villages to buy food for themselves.”

“They don’t have to leave,” answered Jesus. “You yourselves give them something to eat!”

“All we have here are five loaves and two fish,” they replied.

“Then bring them here to me,” Jesus said. He ordered the people to sit down on the grass, then he took the five loaves and the two fish, looked up to heaven, and gave thanks to God. He broke the loaves and gave them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the people. Everyone ate and full of what was left over. The number of men who ate was about five thousand, not counting the women and children.

21.1 (Joseph In Egypt): Be Prepared For Time Of Shortages

(Genesis 41: 33-36)

“Now you should choose some man with wisdom and insight and put him in charge of the country. You must also appoint other officials and take a fifth of the crops during the seven years of plenty. Order them to collect all the food during the good years that are coming, and give them authority to store up grain in the cities and guard it. The food will be a reserve supply for the country during the seven years of famine which are going to come on Egypt. In this way the people will not starve.”

20.5 In Fasting I Pray For Help

(Psalm 35:13-23, 27-28)

But when they were sick, I dressed in mourning;
I deprived myself of food;
I prayed with my head bowed low,
as I would pray for a friend or a brother.
I went around bent over in mourning,
as one who mourns for his mother.

But when I was in trouble, they were all glad
and gathered around to make fun of me;
strangers beat me and kept striking me.
Like men who would mock a cripple,
they glared at me with hate.

How much longer, Lord, will you just look on?
Rescue me from their attacks;
save my life from these lions!
Then I will thank you in the assembly of your people;
I will praise you before them all.

Don’t let my enemies, those liars,
gloat over my defeat.
Don’t let those who hate me for no reason
smirk with delight over my sorrow.

They do not speak in a friendly way,
instead they invent all kinds of lies
about peace-loving people.
They accuse me, shouting, “We saw what you did!”
But you, O Lord, have seen this.
So don’t be silent, Lord;
don't keep yourself far away!
Rouse yourself, O Lord, and defend me;
rise up, my God, and plead my cause.

May those who want to see me acquitted
shout for joy and say again and again,
“How great is the Lord!
He is pleased with the success of his servant.”
Then I will proclaim your righteousness,
and I will praise you all day long.

20.4 When You Fast, Groom Your Hair

(Matthew 6:16-18)

And when you fast, do not put on a sad face as the hypocrites do. They neglect their appearance so that everyone will see that they are fasting. I assure you, they have already been paid in full. When you go without food, wash your face and comb your hair, so that others cannot know that you are fasting- only your Father, who is unseen, will know. And your Father, who sees what you do in private, will reward you.

20.3 Fasts Are Days Of Joyful Return To God

(Zechariah 8:15-19)

Now I am planning to bless the people of Jerusalem and Judah. So don’t be afraid. These are the things you should do: Speak the truth to one another. In the courts give real justice- the kind that brings peace. Do not plan ways of harming one another. Do not give false testimony under oath. I hate lying, injustice, and violence.

The Lord Almighty gave this message to Zechariah: “The fasts held in the fourth, fifth, seventh, and tenth months will become festivals of joy and gladness for the people of Judah. You must love truth and peace.”

20.2 Fast By Promoting Justice

(Zechariah 7:8-14)

The Lord gave this message to Zechariah: “Long ago I gave these commands to my people: ‘You must see that justice is done, and must show kindness and mercy to one another. Do not oppress widows, orphans, foreigners who live among you, or anyone else in need. And do not plan ways of harming one another.’

“But my people stubbornly refused to listen. They closed their minds and made their hearts as hard as rock. Because they would not listen to the teaching which I sent through the prophets who lived long ago, I became very angry. Because they did not listen when I spoke, I did not answer when they prayed. Like a storm I swept them away to live in foreign countries. This good land was left a desolate place, with no one living in it.”

20.1 Fast And Prayer

(Ezra 8:21-23)

There by the Ahava Canal I gave orders for us all to fast and humble ourselves before our God and to ask him to lead us on journey and protect us and our children and all our possessions. I would have been ashamed to ask the emperor for a troop of cavalry to guard us from any enemies during our journey, because I had told him that our God blesses everyone who trusts him, but that he is displeased with and punishes anyone who turns away from him. So we fasted and prayed for God to protect us, and he answered our prayers.

19.4 Lament Over Corruption

(Psalm 14)

Fools say to themselves, “There is no God!”
They are all corrupt,
and they have done terrible things;
there is no one who does what is right.

The Lord looks down from heaven at mankind
to see if there are any who are wise,
any who worship him.
But they have all gone wrong;
they are all equally bad.
Not one of them does what is right, not a single one.

“Don’t they know?” ask the Lord.
“Are all these evildoers ignorant?
They live by robbing my people,
and they never pray to me.”

But then they will be terrified,
for God is with those who obey him.
Evildoers frustrate the plans of the humble man,
but the Lord is his protection.

How I pray that victory will come to Israel from Zion.
How happy the people of Israel will be
when the Lord makes them prosperous again!