Daily Devotionals
Daily Devotional: Psalms 78:57-64
Ps 78:57-64
Like their fathers they were disloyal and faithless, as unreliable as a faulty bow. They angered him with their high places; they aroused his jealousy with their idols. When God heard them, he was very angry; he rejected Israel completely. He abandoned the tabernacle of Shiloh, the tent he had set up among men. He sent the ark of his might into captivity, his splendor into the hands of the enemy. He gave his people over to the sword; he was very angry with his inheritance. Fire consumed their young men, and their maidens had no wedding songs; their priests were put to the sword, and their widows could not weep.
Rom 1:18-20
The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of men who suppress the truth by their wickedness, since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. For since the creation of the world God's invisible qualities — his eternal power and divine nature — have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse.
Verses eighteen through thirty-two of this last passage is in contrast to verses sixteen and seventeen. The gospel is given to everyone to make us righteous by faith, but people are free to reject it. Many then, and many today, reject the saving grace of God in Jesus Christ. There is no excuse for this, but God will let them go in their own futility and they go from bad to worse in sin.
This is recorded of Israel and how they rejected God so many times, and each time they were punished. God gave them every reason to serve him and repeatedly warned them of their refusal and stubbornness, but to no avail. On their own, without God, they continued in a downward spiral, compounding their evil.
We live in a society that is repeating these same mistakes. They refuse to see the obvious proof of God and his goodness. They are blinded by the deception of Satan, claiming to be wise, they become fools. Without God in their hearts or lives, they seem to invent new ways of being wicked and openly defying the God of heaven. We must not allow this culture to cause us to accept their evil as good.
O Lord God, I know that anything that is contrary to your will is sin. I also know that I fail to live up to your glory too many times. I need your forgiveness every day, but I also need your wisdom and your strength to overcome sin, so I won’t need to be forgiven. Remind me to use the shield of faith to extinguish the flaming arrows of the devil. Be merciful to our nation and give us leaders that believe in Jesus and who will abhor evil and hold to your will. Thank you for all you do for me, all you give me and all you keep from me. I pray in the name of Jesus.
Robert
