2026 Easter Devotions
Tuesday, May 19
Acts 2:14-21
14 But Peter, standing with the eleven, raised his voice and addressed them, “Fellow Jews and all who live in Jerusalem, let this be known to you, and listen to what I say. 15 Indeed, these are not drunk, as you suppose, for it is only nine o’clock in the morning. 16 No, this is what was spoken through the prophet Joel:
17 ‘In the last days it will be, God declares,
that I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh,
and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy,
and your young men shall see visions,
and your old men shall dream dreams.
18 Even upon my slaves, both men and women,
in those days I will pour out my Spirit,
and they shall prophesy.
19 And I will show portents in the heaven above
and signs on the earth below,
blood, and fire, and smoky mist.
20 The sun shall be turned to darkness
and the moon to blood,
before the coming of the Lord’s great and glorious day.
21 Then everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.’ ”
16 No, this is what was spoken through the prophet…
When I was growing-up, every time we would ask our parents what something meant, or how to spell a word, or where someplace was, the answer was always the same. “Go look it up.” Nothing else brings quite the same level of frustration into a young mind as those three, awful words!
Now that I’m all grown-up myself, I understand and appreciate the value of being sent off to look things up as a child. In the process of finding that small nugget of information I was seeking, I also found context and other interesting topics to chase around. Learning how to look things up is, indeed, a vital part of the education process.
Case in point. On the Festival of Pentecost, when all heaven broke loose, and people were preaching in languages they didn’t even understand themselves, everyone was shocked. I’m certain that this situation even caused no small amount of panic. But Peter was able to save the day by calling to mind a passage from Joel that he had learned as a child.
The old adage, “knowledge is power’ was certainly true for Peter that day. It’s also true for each of us. The Holy Spirit is present and active all around us all the time. Immersing ourselves in Bible study, prayer, worship, and Christian Community, equips us to recognize the work of the Spirit, and to interpret what God is communicating to us.
Prayer: Lord God: Thank you for all the people who told me to “go look it up”, and for the precious gift of Holy Scripture. AMEN