Old Testament reading: Psalm 8-13
“What is man that You are mindful of him, or the son of man that You visit him?” These are the beautiful words of Psalm 8:4. In these questions are the affirmations and declarations that man is ever in the mind of God. Moreover, being in His mind, man is cared for by His Creator. Contrary to deism, the erroneous idea of a distant and impersonal God, David unashamedly and thankfully affirms God’s love and provision for humanity. Also, we are reminded that man is the highest of God’s earthly creation. He has given man dominion over all that has been created. David notes that all animals, those on land and sea, are under man’s dominion. Man and animals are not equals at any level or in any sense of the word. Man thus has the responsibility to be a good steward of what has been placed under his hand. Because all creatures were created for man, his dominion and stewardship would include using animals for food, clothing, domestication, and labor.
New Testament reading: Luke 4-5
“So when they brought their boats to land, they forsook all and followed Him.” And so we are also called to follow Jesus today. An interesting thought to consider is the Divine provision seen here with the incredible catch of fish. In Matthew’s account, we see that James and John were fisherman and worked for their father. Losing his two sons would have created a hardship on Zebedee, but Jesus smoothed the transition by giving Zebedee a catch of fish beyond his wildest dreams. The fact that they were all astonished by their catch implies that they had never witnessed or experienced a catch anywhere close to the one they had just brought in. Luke also notes that Simon and Andrew were partners with Zebedee (5:10). Such a haul would have given Zebedee a financial windfall to cover the time needed to replace his sons and his partners in his fishing business. Another thought to consider is that Zebedee was greatly inconvenienced by his sons’ and partners’ decision to follow Jesus. We can discourage young men and women from serving the Lord, citing the instability of ministry or the inconvenience that missions place on a family. Thank God that Zebedee let his sons follow Jesus!
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