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I am using readings from the 49 Week Bible Challenge as the basis for these devotions. I encourage you to join me in this discipline. Today’s readings are Luke 10; Deuteronomy 6; Leviticus 21; Job 40.
Luke 10:17-20
The seventy-two returned with joy, saying, “Lord, even the demons are subject to us in your name!” 18 And he said to them, “I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven. 19 Behold, I have given you authority to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall hurt you. 20 Nevertheless, do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven.”
Deuteronomy 6:4-12
“Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. 5 You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. 6 And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. 7 You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise. 8 You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. 9 You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.
10 “And when the Lord your God brings you into the land that he swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give you—with great and good cities that you did not build, 11 and houses full of all good things that you did not fill, and cisterns that you did not dig, and vineyards and olive trees that you did not plant—and when you eat and are full, 12 then take care lest you forget the Lord, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.
Over the years that I served as pastor at St. John Lutheran Church in Cypress, Texas, I realized again and again that I stood on the shoulders of those who had gone before me. Whether as pastors who had served over the years, or the people who had faithfully gathered and served in the church. On one occasion, it dawned on me that a pastor who had served led the people to appreciate and respect him and the pastoral office. What a blessing he provided me – well before he retired and even before years later I came on the scene. I didn’t create the high level of respect. But I certainly benefited from it.
How much more significant are the gifts of God – which come to us without any work on our part. Jesus turns the disciples’ attention away from their success at casting out demons, to the blessing that their names are written in heaven.
But there is a danger in receiving these gifts for which we did not work. God speaks to his people in Deuteronomy about this danger. When we receive these gifts by God’s grace, we must be careful not to forget that they come from God. He is the Giver of so many good things: great and good cities that you did not build, and houses full of all good things that you did not fill, and cisterns that you did not dig, and vineyards and olive trees that you did not plant—and when you eat and are full.
Our eternal salvation – names written in heaven – and our earthly wellbeing – homes, vineyards, food and drink to enjoy – both come from God. He is the only One who gives these things. He may mediate them through others – like the disciples casting out demons. But he is the source. He is the One whom we should fear, love and trust in him above all things.
David Bahn - Reflections 
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