Day 112..."God's Strength Or Ours?...Do Not Be Afraid...Jesus Confront Critics"

When you face opposition stronger than you, do not fear them is the teaching of this chapter. God is the source of real strength. Is this not a teaching for all of life? Do we trust our own strength or God's? The images of houses, land, and wives is a call to hope in light of feeling overmatched. We will read this message again and again in the New Testament. The Psalmist rings out with the same message of hope in the face of adversaries..."He is not afraid of bad news;his heart is firm, trusting in the Lord. His heart is steady; he will not be afraid,until he looks in triumph on his adversaries." Jesus is also confronting hostilities today in the form of critics. Jesus teaches about "justice and love" in addition to tithing. I have heard people argue Jesus is saying tithing is not important because of this text. Read closely...the point is not neglecting tithing but rather the spirit in which we do all things. Justice and love are not to be neglected. Notice also how adversarial the religious people were...."As he went away from there, the scribes and the Pharisees began to press him hard and to provoke him to speak about many things, lying in wait for him, to catch him in something he might say."