Daily Devotionals
Daily Devotional: Psalms 72:1-7
Ps 72:1-7
1 Endow the king with your justice, O God, the royal son with your righteousness. 2 He will judge your people in righteousness, your afflicted ones with justice. 3 The mountains will bring prosperity to the people, the hills the fruit of righteousness. 4 He will defend the afflicted among the people and save the children of the needy; he will crush the oppressor. 5 He will endure as long as the sun, as long as the moon, through all generations. 6 He will be like rain falling on a mown field, like showers watering the earth. 7 In his days the righteous will flourish; prosperity will abound till the moon is no more.
1 Peter 3:8-10
8 Finally, all of you, live in harmony with one another; be sympathetic, love as brothers, be compassionate and humble. 9 Do not repay evil with evil or insult with insult, but with blessing, because to this you were called so that you may inherit a blessing.
Jesus once told his audience that to be pleasing to God, their righteousness must exceed that of the Pharisees. These were the religious leaders of the day. They were the ones who led the services in the synagogues and were the Bible class teachers. If you wanted to know how to live for the Lord, you just looked at the Pharisees and tried to be like them. But Jesus said something was missing.
The problem was not that they were sticklers for keeping the law. In fact, Jesus said that part was good. What was wrong was their hearts were not set on being what God wanted them to be. They were lacking love, compassion and mercy. It was also a lack of genuine faith on their part because they trusted in themselves and in their own righteousness instead of trusting God. James says that true religion is to see to the needs of the orphans and widows but also to keep oneself from being like the ungodly world around us. We seek to be like God.
Our faith is to be in God, his promises and what he has done for us in Jesus. This kind of faith will demand that we follow his will as closely as possible. We will love him and his word and do all we can to understand it. As we pray for his wisdom, we will seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness in us.
Our Father who is in heaven, holy is your name in all the earth. Your majesty is beyond my comprehension. I praise you for your power and your wisdom but also for your love and compassion which brings your mercy to me. Help my weakness and strengthen my strengths so I will be like you in all things. Create in me a pure heart and clean lips that all I say and do will bring glory to you. Lord, my heart hurts for many who are sick and are taking treatments, so I ask your healing and your peace for them. Use me to help them. I pray in the name of Jesus.
Robert
