Daily Devotionals
Daily Devotional: Psalms 149:1-5
Ps 149:1-5
1 Praise the LORD. Sing to the LORD a new song, his praise in the assembly of the saints. 2 Let Israel rejoice in their Maker; let the people of Zion be glad in their King. 3 Let them praise his name with dancing and make music to him with tambourine and harp. 4 For the LORD takes delight in his people; he crowns the humble with salvation. 5 Let the saints rejoice in this honor and sing for joy on their beds.
1 Peter 5:5-7
5 Young men, in the same way be submissive to those who are older. All of you, clothe yourselves with humility toward one another, because, "God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble." 6 Humble yourselves, therefore, under God's mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time. 7 Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you.
God crowns the humble with salvation. One of the requirements in becoming a Christian is that we humble ourselves before God. We must believe that He is God and that we are His creation. This means that we will allow him to be Lord over us and our lives. What he says is always right and if we disagree, we are wrong. For us to acknowledge that Jesus is Lord is necessary for us in accepting him as our Savior. Jesus himself said that when we have done all he has commanded us, we are still unprofitable servants. We owe him our all.
Jesus is our example of humility. He gave up all the glories of heaven and came to earth to live as one of us, human in every way, and then took our sin upon himself when he died on the cross. He suffered for our transgressions. While he was here he served others. He humbled himself when he put the towel around his waist and washed the feet of his disciples. Peter, who wrote the words above, was told by the Lord that he did not understand at the time but would later know what and why Jesus was doing this deed. Peter learned to be a servant.
Humility is often learned by hard experiences; when we fail or when we have lost everything or when others outperform us and we realize how small we are. If we ever think we have arrived at being humble, we probably have just lost it.
O Lord God, I thank you for your great love shown to me every day in more ways than I can possibly even know. I am so thankful to be born in the time and place of your choosing and for the freedoms and opportunities this has given me. Help me use all you give to your glory – my abilities (such as they are), my possessions and my opportunities. I ask your blessings on those who are struggling to defeat terrible addictions that are opposed to your will and are destructive in nature. Give them your strength to overcome. I pray in the name of Jesus.
Robert
