Resource Manager Posted January 26, 2021 Author Report Share Posted January 26, 2021 26 January 2021 Genesis 42; 43Psalms 46; 47; 48Matthew 28 "BEHOLD, THE WORKS OF THE LORD" So many are blind to the works of the LORD, this is in spite of the discovery of more and more detail of the marvels of nature. We are learning more and more of how these work together and depend upon one another. Yet most people are as blind as ever - and say it has all happened by pure chance! The phrase, “Behold the works of the LORD” occurs in our Psalms reading [Psalm 46] today and is applied to events that God will cause to occur to bring a climax to life on earth as we know it. It begins, “God is our refuge and strength, a very present (proven) help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear though the earth gives way …” Those who really believe in God know where to turn when events threaten to overwhelm them. Those who turn to him every day and read his word will do so automatically. We should particularly note verses 6 to 9, “The nations rage, the kingdoms totter; he utters his voice, the earth melts. The LORD of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our fortress. Come, behold the works of the LORD, how he has brought desolations on the earth. He makes wars to cease to the end of the earth …” [Psalm 46:6-9] These words will become even more meaningful hope in our hearts as chaos and uncertainty between and within nations multiply. Surely they have been written for us today – to inspire those who believe to - live with genuine faith as they see “the nations rage.” In the busy and ever more frantic lives many of us experience the final two verses tell us, “‘Be still, and know that I am God. I will be exalted among the nations; I will be exalted in the earth!’ The LORD of hosts is with us” [Psalm 46:10-11] He is with all those who see – with their minds – the power in the meaning of these words and similar words in the rest of Scripture.-------- DC Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Resource Manager Posted January 27, 2021 Author Report Share Posted January 27, 2021 27 January 2021 Genesis 44; 45Psalms 49Romans 1; 2 "DO YOU PRESUME UPON THE RICHES OF HIS KINDNESS" Today we started reading Romans; this is the most comprehensive of all Paul’s letters. Its wording is very urgent and impassioned. In the way many express themselves today, he is saying, ‘wake up to yourself.’ Obviously some at Rome were doing the very things they condemned others for doing reminding us how we read a few days ago of the blunt denunciation by Jesus of the scribes and Pharisees for their hypocrisy. Paul makes the point, “Do you presume upon the riches of his kindness and forbearance and patience.” [Romans 2:4] This is the very thing that is happening in many Christian circles with their emphasis upon grace – that it is always abounding. This creates an attitude that slipping and sliding on “the narrow path” is unavoidable so don’t let it worry you – God is loving and kind. Paul asks, don’t you know “God’s kindness is meant to lead you to repentance” [Romans 2:4]. He tells those who presume upon God’s endless kindness that you “are storing up wrath for yourself on the day of wrath when God’s righteous judgement will be revealed.” [Romans 2:5] In coming days we will be reading some wonderful Psalms showing how David reacted to his weaknesses, a great source of meditation for all of us. We do not know how close we are to that final time of God’s wrath – but the whole world is in dire trouble in various ways; it is searching for solutions and only finding ‘stop gap’ ones. Paul proceeds to comment on the “Gentiles who do not have the law” [Romans 2:14] but who “show that the work of the law is written on their hearts” [Romans 2:15] which means they have an active conscience. Although they have not grown up under the law their hearts are in a good and healthy spiritual state – may ours be the same – then we will be blessed by God on “ the day of wrath …for God shows no partiality.” [Romans 2:5,11]-------- DC Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Resource Manager Posted January 28, 2021 Author Report Share Posted January 28, 2021 28 January 2021 Genesis 46; 47Psalms 50Romans 3; 4 "BUT HE GREW STRONG IN HIS FAITH" In Paul’s letter to the Romans we have seen some of the most important points in the whole Bible that we need to absorb into our minds. Paul writes, “now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, although the Law and the Prophets bear witness to it.” [Romans 3:21] What does this mean? The big issue among early believers was whether their lives should be dominated by keeping all the observances that were decreed in the Law Moses received from God. The answer is clearly, ‘No.’ The core word in the true answer is “faith.” But faith does not stand on its own, it has to be faith in someone or something, a conviction that exists in our thought processes that affects all our actions. Paul says that Abraham is the supreme example. Paul says the Law (of Moses) and God’s messages through the prophets “bear witness” to the righteousness that God is looking to see in people; a way of life inspired by their faith, Note the next verse [Romans 3:22] after the one quoted above; “the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe.” There is “no distinction” because of nationality. God looks with favour on all who believe – whose belief is evident through of the way they live their lives showing the evidence of a growing faith. Abraham is the example to follow: “No distrust made him waver concerning the promise of God but he grew strong in his faith … fully convinced that God was able to do what he had promised. That is why his faith was ‘counted to him as righteousness’” [Romans 4:20-22]. Abraham is the example for everyone who wishes to follow God. To illustrate the opposite to this, Paul quotes the Psalms – notice how this is exactly like attitudes around us today. “None is righteous, no, not one; no one understands; no one seeks for God … There is no fear of God before their eyes.” [Romans 3:10,11,18] Only the Bible brings the “knowledge of God” before our eyes; we ‘starve’ if we do not feed on it regularly.-------- DC Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Resource Manager Posted January 29, 2021 Author Report Share Posted January 29, 2021 29 January 2021 Genesis 48; 49; 50Psalms 51; 52Romans 5; 6 “MY SHEPHERD ALL MY LIFE LONG” Each of the readings today challenge us to meditate on our own personal relationship with God. Genesis 48 contains Jacob’s reflections at the end of his life, his relationship with “the God who has been my shepherd all my life long to this day” [Genesis 48:15]. Then in Psalm 51 we read David’s outpourings of remorse over his failures, expressed in his prayer, “according to your abundant mercy blot out my transgressions” [Psalm 51:1] He says to God, “Behold, you delight in truth in the inward being, and you teach me wisdom in the secret heart” [Psalm 51:6] The secret heart is the hidden heart of conscience which he had temporarily lost touch with; it was in desperate need of repair. The Psalm is an invaluable meditation for all those who have had a time of failure in their lives. Today we would probably talk about our “secret heart” as our inner sense of integrity. May we more readily sense how God sees how we think, as well as hearing what we say. Paul rebuked some at Rome, writing “if you are sure that you yourself are a guide to the blind, a light to those who are in darkness … you then who teach others, do you not teach yourself? While you preach against stealing, do you steal? [Romans 2:19,21] All such lacked wisdom in their inward being, their knowledge of God was in the head, but not in the heart. “We rejoice in hope of the glory of God” writes Paul in Romans 5, “More than that, we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame because God’s love has been poured into our hearts …” [Romans 5:2-5] Jacob’s life is an example of this, he learnt to endure and his character was refined, especially as he realized more and more that God had been his “shepherd all my life long to this day.” Paul says God’s Spirit watches over us and possesses us [Romans 8:26], rather than the other way round and we become “instruments for righteousness. For sin will have no dominion over you …” [Romans 6:13,14]-------- DC Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Resource Manager Posted January 30, 2021 Author Report Share Posted January 30, 2021 30 January 2021 Exodus 1; 2Psalms 53; 54; 55Romans 7; 8 "NOT WORTH COMPARING WITH ..." Paul’s letter to the Romans contains some of the most meaningful and thought provoking words in the Bible. It is impossible to read it and take all the points into our minds. Maybe, more than any other book in the Bible, this book calls for our diligent and meditative study. Of course, this is the challenge of the whole Bible, it is not at all like a school text book that you go through in a year’s study and then leave on the shelf for occasional reference. God’s word is designed by him for our lifelong reading and reflection. Paul had been brought up under the Law of Moses with all its rules and regulations. He had been zealous for the Law, but, as a result of his dramatic conversion on the road to Damascus, he had, with God’s help through the Spirit, applied his mind to the true reality of eternal things – and to the wonder of a personal relationship with his Saviour. The Law of Moses was a Law for the Nation of Israel; this had now been superseded by a situation in which each individual needed to have a personal relationship with their Saviour the Lord Jesus and with the Father. Now note what Paul states, “For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us. For the creation waits with eager longing …” [Romans 8:18,19] This sense of eagerness is felt each individual who see the emptiness in so much of what people enjoy today. But we also long to see the wonder of life when the curse that was put on the earth at the beginning is removed. Paul goes on to say we “groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons (& daughters), the redemption of our bodies” [Romans 8:23] How eager are you? Those who find this life satisfying and enjoyable will not genuinely have eagerness for that which is going to replace it. But for many in the world this life has little that is enjoyable – and such are in a far more spiritually acceptable frame of mind before God: they are also conscious how angry God must be with our world and ponder the latter day prophecy through Isaiah, “The earth lies defiled under its inhabitants… therefore a curse defiles the earth, and its inhabitants suffer for their guilt” [isaiah 24:5,6]-------- DC Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Resource Manager Posted January 31, 2021 Author Report Share Posted January 31, 2021 31 January 2021 Exodus 3; 4Psalms 56; 57Romans 9 "IS THERE INJUSTICE ON GOD’S PART?" We read yesterday that “all things work together for good for those who are called according to his (God’s) purpose” [Romans 8:28] and we read today an example of this as Paul writes about Moses and Pharaoh in a series of questions and answers over the way things happened and interacted leading to certain results, results God had intended. Paul examines the scene and says, “Is there injustice on God’s part? By no means! For he says to Moses, ‘I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion.’ So then it depends not on human will or exertion, but on God who has mercy. For the Scripture says to Pharaoh, ‘For this very purpose I have raised you up, that I might show my power in you, and that my name might be proclaimed …” [Romans 9:14-17] The point we must grasp is that ALL need God to show mercy to them - and we are most unwise to question the ‘morality’ of God as to where he shows mercy and where he does not! Let us meditate on what he causes to happen “in order to make known the riches of his glory for vessels of mercy” [Romans 9:23]. God “has mercy on whomever he wills” [Romans 9:18]. Therefore, as we are reading in Exodus, God is using Moses to confront Pharaoh and as a result God’s “name” (his reputation) is “proclaimed in all the earth” as the all-powerful God of Israel who wonderfully delivered them from Egypt. Many nations are in awe of Israel as a result. But note how, at the same time, God in his wisdom first allowed his chosen people to endure a period of difficulty. They had been content to dwell in the relative ease of life in Egypt after the death of Joseph, they had largely forgotten the God of their fathers.. God sought to make ready their minds so they would seek his deliverance!. After that he tested them in the wilderness to see if they appreciated all that had happened. Now consider the 21st Century – are we not likely to see (and some are already seeing) in the increasing challenges to our lives today, what could be a comparable situation? May God show mercy to us in the traumas that develop as our godless unsuspecting world ‘counts down’ to the “day” Jesus Christ returns to this earth.-------- DC Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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