Daily Devotionals
Daily Devotional: Psalms 140:1-6
Ps 140:1-6
1 Rescue me, O LORD, from evil men; protect me from men of violence, 2 who devise evil plans in their hearts and stir up war every day. 3 They make their tongues as sharp as a serpent's; the poison of vipers is on their lips. Selah 4 Keep me, O LORD, from the hands of the wicked; protect me from men of violence who plan to trip my feet. 5 Proud men have hidden a snare for me; they have spread out the cords of their net and have set traps for me along my path. Selah 6 O LORD, I say to you, "You are my God." Hear, O LORD, my cry for mercy.
Acts 4:27-29
27 Indeed Herod and Pontius Pilate met together with the Gentiles and the people of Israel in this city to conspire against your holy servant Jesus, whom you anointed. 28 They did what your power and will had decided beforehand should happen. 29 Now, Lord, consider their threats and enable your servants to speak your word with great boldness.
When we serve God, we will be opposed by those who do not love him. It may be physical persecution as many in the world face today or it may be just some slight remark and mistreatment we face. There is a force in our country to try to legalize all that is evil and to even moralize that which is wicked. But this is not new to our day as the prophets of old were punished because they condemned the teachers of Israel who called that which was evil good and called the good evil.
Satan has sought to deceive mankind into thinking that God does not really have the right to tell us what to do or not do since the beginning of time. He told Eve that what God said about the fruit they were forbidden to eat was not really true and would not result in death as God had told them. They sinned and death came.
God alone has the right to determine what is right and wrong, moral and immoral because he alone has a perfect nature, empowered with perfect wisdom. As we follow him and his word, we take on his likeness. As we allow the Father and the Son to live in us through the Holy Spirit, his fruit grows in us and we are being transformed into his image until that day when we will be made like him.
Heavenly Father I am thankful for your wisdom and your grace in providing a way of salvation for me and for all of mankind. Create in me a pure heart and a greater desire to be like you in every way. Give me your strength to resist temptation. Use me to help others with what you have given me, physically, mentally, emotionally and spiritually. Help me be a friend to others. Be with the nations and the leaders of each that we can live peaceful lives. I know that you select and allow leaders to serve so help all of your people to respect your will in this and to show respect to all who have been elected. I humbly pray in the name of Jesus my Lord.
Robert
