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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 Acts 2; Joel 2; Psalm 16; 1 Kings 2.
Acts 2:36-41
Let all the house of Israel therefore know for certain that God has made him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom you crucified.”
37 Now when they heard this they were cut to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, “Brothers, what shall we do?” 38 And Peter said to them, “Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. 39 For the promise is for you and for your children and for all who are far off, everyone whom the Lord our God calls to himself.” 40 And with many other words he bore witness and continued to exhort them, saying, “Save yourselves from this crooked generation.” 41 So those who received his word were baptized, and there were added that day about three thousand souls
Joel 2:12-13
“Yet even now,” declares the Lord,
“return to me with all your heart,
with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning;
13 and rend your hearts and not your garments.”
Return to the Lordyour God,
for he is gracious and merciful,
slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love;
and he relents over disaster.
When I first learned of the work of the Holy Spirit, calling us to faith in Jesus, I realized how complete is the grace of God. It would have been enough on God’s part to send Jesus to redeem and save us. But it was not enough on our part. For the very ones for whom Jesus came rejected him totally and put him to death on the cross. Thank God that he sent also the Holy Spirit to bring us to contrition over our sin and faith in Jesus.
The readings today include not only Joel 2 and Psalm 16, but also 1 Kings 2. God had promised to pour out his Spirit on all flesh. This occurs on Pentecost. He also foretold of Jesus resurrection in Psalm 16. But as I listened to 1 Kings 2, I was struck by the means by which Solomon established his kingdom. He killed many people, even one who had sought refuge at the altar of God. He expelled Abiathar the priest. Brutality and bloodshed established his kingdom.
The kingdom of God was established in a similar but dramatically different manner. Similar in that it was established by brutal bloodshed. Dramatically different, because the King himself died but was raised to life. That is the fulfillment of Psalm 16:9-10. This stunning fact rocked the world of the people in Jerusalem for the Pentecost celebration. When they heard that, ” God has made him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom you crucified,” they were cut to the heart and they repented. Then they discovered how true was Joel’s prophetic invitation: “Return to the Lord your God, for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love.”
I’ve looked over the chasm of despair, hopelessness, death, and doom that is my sin. I’ve determined that were it not for God’s grace I would be eternally lost, condemned, hopeless, and damned. It was an existential moment for me. But there is grace. The Holy Spirit has brought me to faith in Jesus. I have been saved. God’s abounding and steadfast love has secured me to him and I praise him for the fullness of his glorious grace!
David Bahn - Reflections 
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