Daily Devotionals
Daily Devotional: Psalms 81:8-16
Ps. 81:8-16
8 "Hear, O my people, and I will warn you--if you would but listen to me, O Israel! 9 You shall have no foreign god among you; you shall not bow down to an alien god. 10 I am the LORD your God, who brought you up out of Egypt. Open wide your mouth and I will fill it. 11 "But my people would not listen to me; Israel would not submit to me. 12 So I gave them over to their stubborn hearts to follow their own devices. 13 "If my people would but listen to me, if Israel would follow my ways, 14 how quickly would I subdue their enemies and turn my hand against their foes! 15 Those who hate the LORD would cringe before him, and their punishment would last forever. 16 But you would be fed with the finest of wheat; with honey from the rock I would satisfy you."
Gal. 1:6-9
6 I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting the one who called you by the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel- 7 which is really no gospel at all. Evidently some people are throwing you into confusion and are trying to pervert the gospel of Christ. 8 But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach a gospel other than the one we preached to you, let him be eternally condemned!
Peter says that one reason we fall away from the Lord is because we forget our purification from our sins. As the children of God, this is nothing new. Israel of old often forgot that God had delivered them from slavery out of Egypt. Each time they forgot, they would leave the Lord and worship other gods.
God, in his patience, would remind them, warn them, withhold his blessing and when this failed to bring them back, he would punish them. This cycle repeated so often and with each repetition they would go farther into debauchery and come back less devoted to the God who made them who they were. Because of this, they were eventually taken into captivity, with only a remnant allowed to return.
God wants to bless his children today but it still depends on how devoted we are to him. Our devotion is determined by how we treat his word; either we ignore it or we obey to the best of our ability and understanding.
O Lord my God, I stand in awe of your majesty and your power. I am amazed at your great love for me, even when I was not serving you but living in sin. Give me a greater desire to study and know your word. I need your wisdom to understand it and how to apply it and your strength to do it. Increase my faith! Fill me with your love so that it shows to all with whom I come in contact. As I learn to love as you love me, help me not be judgmental or have hatred toward others but to have compassion on those who are struggling. I pray in the name of Jesus.
Robert
