Pray for President Obama, who is spending the weekend in Washington and has no scheduled public events. On Monday and Tuesday the President will attend meetings and events at the White House before departing to Riyadh, Saudi Arabia...
Presidents need rest, too, right?
1 Listen and help, O God. I'm reduced to a whine
And a whimper, obsessed
with feelings of doomsday.
2-6 Don't let them find me�
the conspirators out to get me,
Using their tongues as weapons,
flinging poison words,
poison-tipped arrow-words.
They shoot from ambush,
shoot without warning,
not caring who they hit.
They keep fit doing calisthenics
of evil purpose,
They keep lists of the traps
they've secretly set.
They say to each other,
"No one can catch us,
no one can detect our perfect crime."
The Detective detects the mystery
in the dark of the cellar heart.
7-8 The God of the Arrow shoots!
They double up in pain,
Fall flat on their faces
in full view of the grinning crowd.
9-10 Everyone sees it. God's
work is the talk of the town.
Be glad, good people! Fly to God!
Good-hearted people, make praise your habit. (The Message)
"[David] saw the wicked hardening themselves in their prosperity, and presuming upon impunity from the divine connivance and forbearance; but instead of yielding to discouragement, he was borne up by the belief that God, according to his usual mode of procedure with the wicked, would visit them at an unexpected moment, when they were flattering themselves with having escaped, and were indulging in extravagant confidence."
(Commentary from Heart Aflame: Daily Readings from Calvin on the Psalms)
"Federally Backed Security"
Weekend Reading
"What guarantee do you have that you are headed toward an eternity of joy rather than an eternity of judgment?"
Many people quickly quote the well-known Bible verse "Once saved always saved." Oh, wait. I can't find that verse, can you?
What we can find, though, is a bit more sobering than such a glib statement. (The phrase, itself, is mostly harmless, but the attitude behind it can be devastating.) We find dire warnings of apostasy for people who are "Christian" in name only (Luke 6:46-49; Hebrews 6:4-8). We find that our assurance of salvation is not guaranteed solely by a profession of faith or some "momentary zeal for Jesus." We are told to cling continuously to Jesus. (John 6:39;10:27-29)
Our hope is not in who we are or what we did. "Jesus is the guarantee of our salvation (Phil. 1:6)." This is illustrated in a scene from John Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress. Pilgrim is shown a fireplace, full of flame. There is a man trying to quench the fire by throwing buckets of water on it. But on the other side of the wall, another man is fueling the fire with oil and the flames are getting brighter. "The observer is taught that while the Devil tries to extinguish the work of grace in the believer's heart, Christ 'continually, with the oil of His grace, maintains the work already begun in the heart.'
"We persevere because God preserves us in Christ, our federal head. Those united to Christ experience secure, eternal benefits, for Jesus never defaults on His promises."
"No Cross, No Gospel"
Romans 5:2
Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God. (ESV)
Once we set our minds to seriously pursue holiness, we begin realizing what awful sinners we are. As we pursue this holiness, it is very important to preach the gospel to ourselves every day. (This was discussed a few readings back.)
However, we much be careful that we do not preach a "gospel without a cross." All of the magnificent promises of forgiveness in the Bible are based on Christ's death on the cross. "Through it He satisfied God's justice and averted from us God's wrath." Many make the mistake of relying on God's "unconditional love" without the realization that this love can only flow to us through Christ's death.
"This is the gospel by which we were saved, and the gospel by which we must live every day of our Christian lives."
In Romans 3:24, Paul speaks of us being justified by grace, as our beginning point of salvation. However, in Romans 5:2, the verse quoted above, he speaks of this "grace in which we stand," being a present day standing. This grace is the same as the basis for our initial justification. But this grace comes to us through Jesus, and through his atoning death on the cross.
God's justice must be satisfied, and was done so through the cross. With justice satisfied, "God can now deal with us in grace, both in our salvation and in our day-to-day relationship with Him."
I'm up to the fifth plague in Exodus. All of the livestock of Egypt died, but none of the Israelites' livestock died. Still Pharaoh did not let them go.
For the sixth plague, Moses was instructed to take soot from the kiln and stand before Pharaoh and throw it up in the air. It became boils, breaking out on everyone's skin. But still, Pharaoh's heart was hardened, and he refused to let them go.
Plague number seven: Hail. There is a very important passage here. Beginning in verse 15 of chapter 9, the Lord says this: "15 For by now I could have put out my hand and struck you and your people with pestilence, and you would have been cut off from the earth. 16 But for this purpose I have raised you up, to show you my power, so that my name may be proclaimed in all the earth." (ESV, emphasis mine) See in verse 16, where God says "for this purpose I have raised you up, to show you my power." The only reason Pharaoh was even there was for a demonstration of God's power! It is so very important that we understand God's power and his workings. He is totally and completely in control of all things! Down to who he lets be in power on the earth. Sure, we might question, and with good reason, why God allows certain evil leaders to be in control in our world. But the bottom line is, God always has a reason, and it is his reason, for his glory, and that may not be revealed until it's all over with.
This time, God even warned Pharaoh to get his slaves and livestock (I'm not sure how much time has elapsed since the livestock died) out of the field and under cover. Whoever listened and feared God obeyed these instructions.
God had Moses stretch out his hand toward heaven, and God sent thunder, hail, and fire down on them. Such a hail had never been seen before in Egypt, it was so heavy. But there was no hail where the Israelites lived.
This time, Pharaoh claimed to change his mind and begged Moses to make it stop. But once it stopped, his heart was hardened once again.
Plague number eight: Locusts. God even says at the beginning of chapter 10, "I have hardened his heart and the heart of his servants, that I may show them these signs of mine..." Moses goes in and tells him what is about to happen with the locusts. At this point, Pharaoh's servants are begging him to let these people go because Egypt is ruined. Pharaoh calls for Moses and asks who is going. When Moses tells him that all of them, including sons and daughters plan to go, Pharaoh is angry and says that only the men can go. And he drove Moses out. So the locusts came. They were so dense that the land was darkened. They ate everything that the hail did not destroy. Pharaoh once again called for Moses and appeared to repent. But, once the locusts were gone, his heart was hardened yet again.
The ninth plague was darkness. Complete and utter darkenss. So dark that they could not see each other. They didn't even leaver their houses for three days. Pharaoh agreed again to let them go, but wanted them to leave all their livestock. Finally, Pharaoh threatens Moses's life. "Get away from me; take care never to see my face again, for on the day you see my face you shall die."
In chapter 11, the final plague is lined out. At this point, God tells Moses to tell the people to go to all the people of Egypt and ask them for silver and gold jewelry. See, God had given his people favor in the eyes of the "regular" Egyptians.
Then Moses described the final plague to the people. Somewhere around midnight, the Lord would come through and every firstborn would die. From the firstborn of Pharaoh down to the firstborn of the slave girl, even to the firstborn of the cattle. "There whall be a great cry throughout all the land of Egypt, such as there has never been, nor ever will be again." And once again, there would be a distinction made between Israel and Egypt. However, there would be rules that had to be followed, which will be lined out in the next section of reading.
What I learn from these chapters is this:
1. God put into power whoever he will, for his own purposes whatever they may be. Once again, the truth that he hardens whoever he will is brought out.
2. There are things that God can do that are totally unnatural. I pray that I never have to see anything like the plagues that the Lord brought down on Egypt.
3. God's justice is terrible. It is something that I really don't want to see. Not even against my worst enemy. This reminds me that Jesus told us to be good to our enemies and pray for them.
I thank you, Jesus, that you never default on your promises. Thank you for the cross, my friend! Thank you for the sacrifice that you made that enables the grace of God to flow down in to our lives, both to justify us, initially, and to keep us standing in our faith through these days. I pray that I never become guilty of preaching a gospel without the cross. Thank you for keeping us faithful.
I thank you, God, for your control over all things. I, for one, am comforted by the way you "hardened Pharaoh's heart" in order to achieve your purpose in Egypt. I believe that all things are possible with you, and that you will always be diligent to honor your name. Father, in these days, there are people everywhere who basically spit in your face. Even though I pray for such people, as commanded by Jesus, I wonder, along with others, how long? How long will you allow your name to be slandered? I do not desire to see your terrible justice enacted on anyone. I would rather see hearts changed. But I know your justice is inevitable. I pray for mercy as long as you can hold out. You know when the final hour will be, and only you know this. Prepare us for this hour, Lord. And may I be found faithful when this hour comes.
Grace and peace, friends.