Daily Devotionals
Daily Devotional: Psalms 7:6-11
Ps 7:6-11
Arise, O Lord, in your anger; lift yourself up against the fury of my enemies; awake for me; you have appointed a judgment. Let the assembly of the peoples be gathered about you; over it return on high. The Lord judges the peoples; judge me, O Lord, according to my righteousness and according to the integrity that is in me. Oh, let the evil of the wicked come to an end, and may you establish the righteous—you who test the minds and hearts, O righteous God! My shield is with God, who saves the upright in heart. God is a righteous judge, and a God who feels indignation every day.
Rom 3:22b-26
For there is no distinction: for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God’s righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins. It was to show his righteousness at the present time, so that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.
God is a just God because it is part of his nature. Sin of any kind is a violation of his nature and therefore it must be punished – and punished with death. All of us have sinned so all of us deserve to die. An added problem to this dilemma is that if we die in our sins, we also face spiritual death – and that is the worst fate possible for any of us, we face eternal separation from the presence of God.
But God, because of his great love for us, has made it possible for us to have our sins forgiven. He sent his Son to earth to live as one of us, to be tempted in every way that we are tempted, to face all of the same trials we face, but he did this without ever sinning. He consistently lived the will of the Father in every facet of his life. Jesus then took our sin upon himself and died as the propitiation (or substitute sacrifice) for the sin of all mankind. In doing this, God is a just God because sin is punished. But ever better for us, he is also our justifier. This is God’s grace. But we must accept this grace by faith, which causes us to turn from our sin and then to be baptized into Christ, in whom all of our sins are forgiven.
O Lord God, thank you for your matchless grace given to me in the sacrifice of Jesus. Thank you for his death for my sin but also for his resurrection which gives me the assurance that you have accepted his sacrifice on my behalf. Thank you for his resurrection which is also a promise that I will be raised to live with Jesus and with you forever. Help me live in a way that will honor you and show the love of Jesus to everyone around me. Please be with those who are hurting and those seeking answers to their problems. I pray in the name of Jesus my Lord.
Robert
