MAY 17 READINGS...Psalm 50 & 73-74
Today's Psalm begins with a truth that we need to stand upon in these dark days that we are living in. "The Lord, the Mighty One, is God, and He has spoken; He has summoned all humanity from where the sun rises to where it sets." We are reminded in this Psalm that the Lord is the might One...that He is God! And when God has spoken, what else needs to be said? What else can be said? The Lord has the say from the beginning of the existence of humanity until the last person draws their last breath. Our God is in control, even when we wonder what is going on. He understands our pain, and He cares about our hurt and concerns. He has called us to trust Him...and He calls us into a living vital relationship with Himself. Psalm 50 reminds us of the Lord's desire for us to walk with Him in this relationship, and to not merely offer sacrifices...He wants us, not our religious rituals. The Psalmist tells us that even the ungodly can do the religious stuff...and doing it without a relationship with God it all becomes empty, meaningless ritual.
The Psalmist laments that even the righteous have to suffer...and this is a truism. The Lord Jesus taught us that it rains on the just and the unjust. We live in a sin fallen world...and the reality of the impact of sin affects both the righteous and the unrighteous. The promise for the righteous is that there will come a day when there will be no more sin, sickness, pain, or death. We have this promise and assurance in Jesus. We want the ungodly to be judged immediately...but we forget that we were once ungodly, and it was by the grace of God that we were brought into righteousness. We live in the day where it seems the ungodly prosper...that people insult the Lord with impunity. We see people in both the secular world and in the church dishonor the Name of the Lord. We see followers of Christ suffer at the hands of the ungodly, and wonder how long? But God knows...God remembers...and God recompenses. Never forget it is not so much that the ungodly hate us...it’s that they hate God. Never forget that you are loved of God...and God always takes care of His own, in His own time and way.
Please share your thoughts from today's readings. Trust in the Lord in these difficult and dark days. Your battle belongs to Him, and He is more than capable. He is the God who spoke it all into existence...and He is the God who will bring it all to His declared end. Join me in saying..."BLESSED BE THE NAME OF THE LORD!"
TOMORROW'S READINGS...Psalm 75-78
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