January 16, 2014

Psalm 40:1-11, Isaiah 22:15-25, Galatians 1:6-12

Psalm 40:1-11 is wonderful. It will do your heart good to read it each of the days this week that it is posted.

I don't have much to say about the Isaiah passage except that it is the Lord who gives power, and the Lord who takes away power. He is the most powerful.

Galatians is where I find my thoughts. Paul is warning the people to not follow or preach any other Good News than the Good News that Paul taught them (the Good News that he received from Jesus Christ). He says that the people are following something that is pretending to be the Good News, but is not the Good News at all. This is scary. This happens still. How can we know what is true? We study the Scriptures. David says in verse 8 of the Psalm today, "I take joy in doing your will, my God, for your instructions are written on my heart.” We must know the Words of God so well that they are written on our hearts. Not just some of the Words, that say what we want to say and conveniently leave out parts that make us feel convicted. All of them. We are all sinners. Sorry to be all gloomy, but it's true. And it's Bad News. And nobody likes to hear Bad News. Especially when it's about how bad we all are. BUT. This is why the Good News is so good! Jesus took the punishment we all deserved so that we could be made right with God. Jesus makes us Good. Jesus redeems us. Romans 3 says it better than I am saying it right now. Read that.

How does this Good News help us to love the Lord our God with all of our heart, soul, mind, and strength? How does this Good News help us to love our neighbor as ourselves? Who is our neighbor?

Prayer:
Almighty and everlasting God, whose will it is to restore all
things in your well-beloved Son, the King of kings and Lord
of lords: Mercifully grant that the peoples of the earth,
divided and enslaved by sin, may be freed and brought together
under his most gracious rule; who lives and reigns with you
and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.