As President Obama moves past his first 100 days and into the next chapter of his presidency, pray for God�s grace and wisdom to intersect and impact his plans and goals and his very being, that he will seek God�s will daily for every part of his presidency. Pray for his physical and spiritual protection every part of every day.
1-2 Clear my name, God; stick up for me against these loveless, immoral people.
Get me out of here, away
from these lying degenerates.
I counted on you, God.
Why did you walk out on me?
Why am I pacing the floor, wringing my hands
over these outrageous people?
3-4 Give me your lantern and compass,
give me a map,
So I can find my way to the sacred mountain,
to the place of your presence,
To enter the place of worship,
meet my exuberant God,
Sing my thanks with a harp,
magnificent God, my God.
5 Why are you down in the dumps, dear soul?
Why are you crying the blues?
Fix my eyes on God�
soon I'll be praising again.
He puts a smile on my face.
He's my God.
"In order to encourage himself in the hope of obtaining the grace of God, David rests with confidence in this, that God, who is true, and cannot deceive any, has promised to assist his servants. The knowledge of the divine favour, it is true, must be sought for in the Word of God; nor has faith any other foundation on which it can rest with security except his word; but when God stretches out his hand to help us, the experience of this is no small confirmation both of the word and of faith."
(Commentary from Heart Aflame: Daily Readings from Calvin on the Psalms)
For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision counts for anything, but only faith working through love.
This verse kind of encapsulates the message of Galatians, which was written by Paul in response to his fear that the Galatian Christians might fall prey to the false gospel of the Judaizers.
Week 2/Thursday "God-Centered Holiness"
1 Peter 1:16
�You shall be holy, for I am holy.�
Why is it that we constantly feel so defeated in our struggles with sin?
Perhaps our first problem is that our attitude toward sin is more self-centered than God-centered. "We're more concerned about our own 'victory' over sin than we are about the fact that our sins grieve God's heart." All sin is against God. When we sin, we despise his authority. You know...I don't know that I've ever looked at it quite that way. "God wants us to walk in obedience--not victory. Obedience is oriented toward God; victory is oriented toward self." The author acknowledges that this may seem like hair-splitting semantics, but there is a "subtle, self-centered attitude at the root of many of our difficulties with sin."
And victory? It's a by-product of obedience. Right! I see this, and agree with it 100%!
Genesis 33-36
When we last left our "hero," he had just finished wrestling with God, and was moving on to his fated meeting with Esau, pretty much terrified for his life. As it turns out, Esau had pretty much forgotten everything and ran to meet Jacot, smothering him with hugs and kisses. Esau forgave Jacob.
In chapter 34, Dinah, the lone sister, is raped by Shechem, a prince of the Hivites. He does desire to marry her, though, and sends this proposal to Jacob's sons. They desire revenge, and cook up a deceitful scheme to get this revenge. They lie to the men, telling them that if they all get circumcised, the Israelites will intermarry with them. The Canaanite men eagerly agree. Three days after they all get their circumcisions, while they are still in pain and could probably barely walk, Jacob's sons go in with swords and massacred the entire city.
In chapter 35, God directs Jacob back to Bethel (house of God). Jacob then tells his entire family to put all false gods away. All of these idols and accessories are handed over to Jacob, who buried them under the terebinth tree near Shechem. God appears to Jacob once again, and confirms his name change from Jacob to Israel. Again, the promise is renewed, that he will be ancestor to a "company of nations."
Then Rachel has her second son, who is named Benjamin. Rachel dies during this childbirth, and is buried in a tomb along the way.
At the end of 35, Isaac dies, and Esau and Jacob bury him.
Chapter 36 is mostly genealogy.
Forgiveness can come at the most unexpected times. Can you even imagine Jacob's relief when Esau greeted him with hugs and kisses? This could very well be a picture of God's grace towards us. Many years later, in a parable, Jesus would illustrate God's forgiveness as an aging father greeted his estranged son with similar hugs and kisses. God will always greet us when we come back to him. "With arms wide open..."
When God directs us with a mission, we would do well to get rid of all of our "false gods." I don't have any metal or stone "gods" laying around my house, but you can bet that there are things in my life that are dangerously close to being false gods. If I am to be God's servant in any way, I need to make sure that my life is uncluttered by these false gods.
Then surprise someone. Forgive them today.
Grace and peace, friends!