We had a meltdown last night that lasted a good hour and a half. This time, I'm not sure what caused it. I'm trying to think back on what she ate recently that might have triggered this, and I can't come up with any obvious culprits. Again, Christi thinks it's her, because she just got home from California Friday night. I keep trying to get her to stop thinking that way.
Pray for President Obama, his military advisors and members of Congress as they consider how best to work with the nation of Pakistan, as their military battles the Taliban. Secretary of State Clinton has announced the U.S. pledge of more than $100M in humanitarian support. Pray for peace and calm in the region, and for the estimated two million refugees that have resulted from fighting there.
1-2 God! you walked off and left us, kicked our defenses to bits
And stalked off angry.
Come back. Oh please, come back!
You shook earth to the foundations,
ripped open huge crevasses.
Heal the breaks! Everything's
coming apart at the seams.
3-5 You made your people look doom in the face,
then gave us cheap wine to drown our troubles.
Then you planted a flag to rally your people,
an unfurled flag to look to for courage.
Now do something quickly, answer right now,
so the one you love best is saved.
6-8 That's when God spoke in holy splendor,
"Bursting with joy,
I make a present of Shechem,
I hand out Succoth Valley as a gift.
Gilead's in my pocket,
to say nothing of Manasseh.
Ephraim's my hard hat,
Judah my hammer;
Moab's a scrub bucket,
I mop the floor with Moab,
Spit on Edom,
rain fireworks all over Philistia."
9-10 Who will take me to the thick of the fight?
Who'll show me the road to Edom?
You aren't giving up on us, are you, God?
refusing to go out with our troops?
11-12 Give us help for the hard task;
human help is worthless.
In God we'll do our very best;
he'll flatten the opposition for good. (The Message)
"[David] expresses his conviction, that should God extend his help, it would be sufficient of itself, although no assistance should be received from any other quarter.
"God, in accomplishing our preservation, may use the agency of man, but he reserves it to himself, as his peculiar prerogative, to deliver, and will not suffer them to rob him of his glory. The deliverance which comes to us in this manner through human agency must properly be ascribed to God."
(Commentary from Heart Aflame: Daily Readings from Calvin on the Psalms)
"Our Only Mediator"
Weekend Reading
The human race is fallen in and through Adam. We are not "sick," or facing "imminent demise" because of the effects of sin. We are, effectively, dead in sin (Romans 5:12; Ephesians 2:1). We are not in need of a "cure" for the "disease" of sin. It's too late for that. "Instead, we need someone to pay for our sins, resurrect us from the dead, and give us new life."
Immediately after the first man rebelled against God, a promise was made to provide redemption. "...from the third chapter of Genesis forward, all of what follows in redemptive history is the unfolding of God's plan to save His people from both the guilt and the power of sin in fulfillment of this very promise."
The means through which God accomplishes this is called a covenant. What happens in a covenant is this: A promise is made by God, which is contingent upon his people's obedience. Blessings are promised if they are obedient. But curses are promised if not. But this covenant works two ways. If God were to not live up to his end of the covenant, the curses threatened upon those who disobey him, would come down on himself. It is a matter of divine justice.
In Romans 5:12-19, Paul speaks of "two Adams." The first Adam sinned in Eden. His guilt is reckoned to all of us, as descendants of him. We are born guilty of Adam's sin and with a corrupt nature.
"If any are to be saved, either we must be punished for our own sins, corruption, and participation in Adam's sin, or else someone must pay for those sins in our place. Since we are dead, we need a Savior--someone who comes as a second Adam, who obeys unlike the first Adam, and who serves as a covenant mediator, reconciling us to God. Such a person must be God so that the savior can actually pay this penalty and endure the wrath of God. But this savior must also be fully human so that the redeemer can bear the guilt of our sins for us and in our place, just as Adam acted on our behalf in Eden."
Q. But who now is that Mediator, who in one person is true God and also a true and righteous man?
A. Our Lord Jesus Christ, who is freely given unto us for complete redemption and righteousness.
(Heidelberg Catechism, Q&A 18)
"As God's eternal Son, Jesus took to Himself a true human nature, and He came to earth to save us from our sins. Supernaturally conceived in the womb of the Virgin, Jesus lived a sinless life, was unjustly condemned, and went to Calvary's cross for the sole purpose of reconciling Adam's fallen children from the guilt and power of sin. Laying down His life for us ('freely given'), Jesus bore the covenant curse, thereby satisfying the justice of God, so that we are completely redeemed from our sins and reckoned righeous."
Hallelujah!
"Personal Responsibility"
Leviticus 20:7
Consecrate yourselves, therefore, and be holy, for I am the Lord your God.
One reason that we do not experience more holiness in our daily lives is because we have misunderstood "living by faith" to mean that we don't have to expend any effort to be holy. In fact, some even wrongly say that any such effort on our part is "of the flesh."
We have a personal responsibility for our walk of holiness. A pastor was quoted as saying, "You can put away that habit that has masterd you if you truly desire to do so."
WHAT????
But wait! NO! I can't...I can't get rid of that habit...It's too strong for me! Um...It's not my fault...Um...
Right.
Read it again.
"You can put away that habit that has mastered you if you truly desire to do so."
That statement causes me to bow my head in shame. It's a true statement. How many of us have a habit that we think we can't shake? But the truth is...if we really want to, we can do it.
And it's easy for us to agree with that statement as long as the pastor is talking about someone else's habit, right? But then, listen to the Holy Spirit as he says to you, "And you can put away the sinful habits that plague you if you will accept your personal responsibility for them."
Darn it.
I will accept the personal responsibility for my sin. As Led Zeppelin once sang..."It's nobody's fault but mine..."
*Oh my gosh, did he just quote Led Zeppelin in a Christian devotional?????*
Yep. He did.
I also thank you for the magnificent deliverance of Jesus Christ, our Mediator in the covenant that you have entered into with your people! I praise you that you had a plan, long before Adam ever took that bite of fruit, to redeem us from our sin. And I thank you that we don't have to remain slaves to that sin any longer. Give us all the strength to take on that "personal responsibility" to get rid of sinful habits that plague us.
Grace and peace, friends!