"O LORD, who shall sojourn in your tent?
Who shall dwell on your holy hill?
He who walks blamelessly and does what is right
and speaks truth in his heart;
who does not slander with his tongue
and does no evil to his neighbor,
nor takes up a reproach against his friend;
in whose eyes a vile person is despised,
but who honors those who fear the LORD;
who swears to his own hurt and does not change;
who does not put out his money at interest
and does not take a bribe against the innocent.
He who does these things shall never be moved. (Emphasis mine) Verses 1-5
This is a tough Psalm. Taken at face value, it appears as though not very many people will dwell on the Lord's "holy hill." But that is why we need Jesus to begin with. These are good ideals to try to live by. If every person who calls him/her self by the name of Christ would live by this Psalm, what kind of difference would we make in this world? Would the unbelievers perhaps take us a little more seriously?
It's review day, so I will revisit the past six days of devotions and see if I learned anything. (At least I'm back on a more regular schedule of daily devotions.)
Day 155--A Mouthful--Ezekiel 3:1-11
God has Ezekiel literally eat a scroll. The scroll contains what we call "God's Word," or what they had of the Bible in their day. Probably contained the law and what they had of the prophets by Ezekiel's time. But Ezekiel at them and said they tasted like honey. The point of the metaphor (even though he literally ate them) is in the instructions of God to get his word inside of us. We are to "eat" his word. Get so intimate with it, it is as if we have ingested it into our very bodies. And it should taste sweet to us.
Day 156--Learn From the Worst--Ezekiel 18:14-17
There is much to learn from people around us. In this example, children are to learn from the negative examples of their parents. We certainly hope that we provide a better example than this for our children. We need to help our young people in this day to look at the proper examples for their lives. A lot of them are looking in a totally wrong direction.
Day 157--The Shepherd and Me--Ezekiel 34:10-16
In this passage, God weeds out the bad shepherds; the ones who are greedy and only after the money of the "flock." After removing the bad shepherds, then God, himself, becomes our shepherd. He will care for us and do all the things that are described in Psalm 23. This all caused me to have this really peaceful image in my head of a calm meadow of soft grass and a nice crystal clear pond. It would be a wonderful place to sit and meditate on the Lord.
Day 158--Not A Scorch Mark--Daniel 3:19-27
The Hebrew children in the fiery furnace. Anyone who has grown up in church knows this story from childhood Sunday School classes. Yet it remains ever alive and fresh even after all these years. It is a classic picture of the power of God and his deliverance. If we would but trust him and his power, we would be mighty warriors in his name. We would not have to fear anything. These three men did not fear the furnace, and their stand was that, even if God did not deliver them, they would still be victorious because they had not succumbed to the pressure to bow down to the image of a human being.
Day 159--When Doing the Right Thing is Against the Law--Daniel 6:6-10
The King is convinced to pass a law prohibiting prayer to anyone but him. Daniel hears the law and continues doing what he always did, praying at h is bedroom window three times a day. Notice that he didn't start praying at the window just be seen because of the law that was decreed. He continued doing what was his habit already. Nothing changed. This would eventually land him in the lions' den. The point here, though, is that he, just like the three in the previous entry, did not fear the laws of men more than the living God. And he had faith that God would protect him. Two great lessons of faith in a row.
Day 160--King of the Universe--Daniel 7:11-14
This was kind of a strange passage, very figurative in nature. But it points out the reign and rule of Christ that will never end. This is what we have to look forward to. This is what we have to build our faith on. And this is why we need never fear. It's as though these lessons are building on each other throughout the week. Wow. What a concept!
Grace and peace, friends!