#2 | Take Time to Think
Read: Acts 2:1-47
Meditate on your own Acts 2:1-13,37-41:
- What do you notice about how the characters respond to the things that take place?
- Who or what does the author seem to highlight in Acts 2:1-13 and 37-41?
- What verse/phrase stands out to you?
- What do you think you can draw from that verse/phrase about God’s character and/or the Christian life?
- Where have you seen that in other parts of the Bible?
- What does that imply about God and/or the Christian life? What would be the opposite of that?
- How is that good news, both for you and for others?
- What does that imply for/demand of your life? In what ways does that reveal your sin? What do you need to ask God for/what help do you need to ask from God?
Consider
Much like the US calendar today, the Jewish calendar in Acts was full of holidays, or festivals. However, one significant difference is that Jewish festivals were established by God to remember and celebrate his mighty works throughout history; two such festivals were the Feast of First Fruits and the Feast of Weeks.
To celebrate the Feast of First Fruits, Jews were meant to bring the very first portion of their harvest to Jerusalem and offer it to God as an act of faith, trusting his promise to provide for them. For people whose entire livelihoods depended on these crops, such an offering was no small thing. Fifty days later, at the end of the harvest season, the Jews were to return to Jerusalem for the Feast of Weeks, or Pentecost, celebrating the end of the harvest and thanking God for his faithfulness.
In Acts 2, devout Jews, both by birth and by conversion, had come from all over the world to celebrate God’s faithful provision. What they did not realize was that the feasts they had been celebrating had merely been foreshadowing what was taking place before their eyes. Fifty-three days beforehand, Jesus was crucified on the day of the Passover Feast as the Passover Lamb to save his people from their sins. Three days later, he was raised from the dead on the Feast of First Fruits as the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep (1 Cor. 15:20).
Now, on the day celebrating God’s faithful provision, the promised Holy Spirit comes, and three thousand men are saved from every nation under heaven. God had faithfully provided the harvest he had promised and continues to do so to this day.
How has God faithfully provided for you? Praise him for it!
How do you need God to provide?
Ask him to provide, trusting in his good timing.
Pray:
Use the acronym IOUS, turning the prayers of the Psalmist into your own.
Incline my heart to you and not to prideful gain or any false motive!
Psalm 119:36
Open my eyes to behold wonderous things out of your Word.
Psalm 119:18
Unite my heart to fear your name.
Psalm 86:11
Satisfy me with your steadfast love.
Psalm 90:14
